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Today, Reverend Daniel begins our thematic sermon series on the church with his message entitled, Being Brought Near by the Blood of Christ. May God quicken our ears and ready our hearts for his word today.

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So we are beginning the year with a thematic series on the church. The next couple of weeks we will focus on the series on the church. We began the series last week with uh Dr. Tan Su-in sharing on intergenerational dynamics in the church. He shared on how as a church we are united, diverse, yet interdependent. He shared on how as a church, uh he shared on the different generations in the church. If you recall last week, uh the silent generation, the baby boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. So how we are all diverse and different in our outlook and perspectives, yet we are called to unity amidst the diversity of the generations. And that is God's plan and desire for us to be united, even though we are different. So we will continue this week and the next few weeks by looking at selected portions of the book of Ephesians as it relates to the church. And of course, in in all the unpacking of the word of God, we will have to ask ourselves: so, what are the implications of this for our Christian living today? Let us look to the Lord in prayer. Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. Paul begins the book of Ephesians by reminding them of God's purpose from eternity to eternity. We see that in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 to 14. So in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 to 14, the phrase in him or through him or in Christ actually appears 11 times in 12 verses. The phrase in him or through him or in Christ appears 11 times in 12 verses. It underlines the fact that the fact of God's saving purpose to form a people for himself, it must be understood in the light of God's entire plans for the world. And it is God's plan in Christ. And Ephesians 1 verse 10 is kind of the big picture of the book of Ephesians. It tells us that God's purpose from eternity to eternity is to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. So now in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11 to 22, Paul wants us to see how that works out in the relationship between Jew and Gentile. The central idea in Ephesians 2 verses 11 to 22, if you could turn uh with me to your Bibles, or if you have an electronic Bible, you may want to just make a note because this is key to uh the sharing today. We see the whole idea is that God in Christ has drawn near. And this idea of God drawing near is the big picture of these few verses. It begins in verse 13, so you can annotate or highlight verse 13. It says, But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far off have been brought near. And in verse 22, Paul ends this uh passage, this part of the passage by saying, We are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. So there is a sense of progression. We are brought near through Christ, and now at the end, in verse 22, we are now built up where God dwells in us, God fills us. So God has drawn near, he has brought us near. So that is the burden of the passage in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11 to verse 12. So Paul begins in verse 11 by calling uh the Gentile believers, which is uh all of us here who are non-Jews, to uh urge them to remember, remember what they were before they came to Christ. Verse 11 to 12 tells us, Paul says, Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision, by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Paul begins by emphasizing to the believers of the need for them to remember. Remember who they were. So we see that in verse 11. Paul says, remember, and verse 12 again, remember, remember who you were before you came to know the Lord. So he uses uh a connecting word, uh conjunction, once you were like this. At one time you were like this, but now or now God has called you to belong to him. So the call to remember is uh recalls the numerous times that the people of Israel were called to remember the mighty deliverance that God had secured for them following the years of painful slavery in Egypt. God uh reminded the Israelites in Exodus 13, verse 3 remember this day, the Lord, remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Israel's failure to remember God's wondrous works and his powerful acts of deliverance often resulted in a failure to appreciate God and to obey his will for them. Psalm 78 verse 42 says, They did not remember his power on the day when he redeemed them from the foe. Psalm 106 verse 7 tells us they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love. So Paul wants the saints in Ephesus to recall their former plight, especially how distant, how far they were from the one true God, and the nature of their exclusion from their only source of hope. Verse 12 of Ephesians 2, uh, verse 12 C says this having no hope and without God in the world. Because Gentile believers did not participate in the covenant life of Israel and did not know the scriptures from young, thus, they had don't they do not have a knowledge of who Jesus is or who the Messiah of Israel is. Because they did not belong to the chosen people of God, like Israel of old, they were excluded from citizenship in the people of Israel, and and thus they were outside the sphere of God's blessing. They did not benefit from the privileged position of Israel as the recipient of the promise and were simply not a part of the people on whom God showed his favor. Paul concludes his summary of the Gentile's plight by reaffirming that they had no objective hope and they lived apart from a knowledge of the one true God. And verses 13 to 18 of Ephesians 2 then explains how the Gentile believers receive a new status. In other words, they have a new status before God, made possible in Christ Jesus through the blood of Christ. Verse 13 to 18 tells us, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. By abolishing the law of commandments and expressing in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who are near. For through him we have both access in one spirit to the Father. The extraordinary news is that Gentiles who have been chosen by God and put their faith in Christ now experience a closeness to God and a reversal of their plight because of their participation in the benefits that Christ offers. So, verse 13, the the phrase, the prepositional phrase, we are brought near in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus, stands as a crucial theological expression in a pivotal text in Ephesians. It means that in Christ Jesus, the people, the Gentiles were incorporated into the people of God. Somehow, Gentiles are united with Christ in a profound, dynamic relationship that not only extends to a present experience of the risen Christ, but reaches back to an objective participation with Him in His death, resurrection, and exaltation. So we have been brought near in Christ Jesus by the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ is the means by which this nearness to God and relationship with Christ is possible. Paul has already reminded the believers about the blood of Christ in his introductory blessings, when he says in Ephesians 1:7, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. The expression the blood of Christ does not literally just mean the blood of Christ, but it refers to the entire set of events associated with the cross of Christ. The fact that Jesus suffered on the cross, he died a sacrificial death to pay, to redeem us from our sin. Jesus' blood also alludes and reminds us of the numerous animal sacrifices under the law of Moses, which all foreshadowed the death of Christ. And Paul declares to the Gentile Christians that Jesus Christ is their peace. He himself becomes their peace. Paul sees Jesus as the one who has brought the Gentiles near to God and created a relationship of peace. And this whole idea of peace, Jesus became our peace, uh has its emphasis throughout verse 12 to verse 17. He says, For he himself is our peace in verse 12. And verse 15a, it tells us that Jesus makes peace. Verse 17 D tells us Jesus proclaims peace. So as the Prince of Peace, Jesus has made both groups, Jews and Gentiles, into one new entity. And by destroying the wall of hostility, the wall of division that separated Jew and Gentile. And this wall was a physical wall that was being erected such that Jews and Gentiles cannot cross one another as they enter into the sanctuary or the temple of God. And there's an inscription over the boundary. It says, No foreigner is to enter within the forecourt around the sanctuary. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his subsequent death. So this dividing wall of hostility surrounded the inner courts of the temple during the time where the book of Ephesians was being written, and it was a symbol of the extraordinary division between Jew and Gentile. Two hostile entities that do not relate to one another, that has no commonness to one another. And what is unique about what Christ is doing is that he is doing something new and he's creating something new. So it's interesting in verse 15b that uh Paul says that Christ creates in himself one new man in place of the two. So the word create comes for the idea of making something out of nothing. It is forming something when there was nothing. So, in other words, Christ exerts his power to recreate humanity such that when we gather together, there's no longer a separation between Jew and Gentile, but there is only one people of God, such that Christ creates one new person in place of the two. So Christ did this that he might reconcile both Jew and Gentile to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility between Jew and Gentile. So, in Paul's understanding, reconciliation is a very important idea that believers now have with God. It tells us, Romans 5.10 tells us, when we were still God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of the Son. Paul reminds us that the blood shed on the cross reconciles two hostile entities, Jew and Gentile, and make, and God through that create one new humanity out of the two. And because of that, identity of being created as one new man, there's no longer Jew and Gentile, there's no longer a separation between two hostile entities. Then in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19 to 22, Paul begins to tell the church this is the consequence, or this is now your new identity. No longer separation between Jew or Gentile, but you are a corporate entity together. Verse 19 to 22 of chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2 says, So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and you are also members of the household of God. Verse 21, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. So there are three things that Paul talks about the church, who we are in Christ. We are firstly fellow citizens with the saints. The fact that the Gentile readers are no longer strangers provides a resolution to Ephesians 2, verse 12, which begins to say that they were strangers of the covenants of the promise. But now they are no longer strangers, they are fellow citizens in the household of God. Secondly, they are members of the household of God. The household of God is a metaphor for family and often expresses belonging and closeness within the bonds of the family. So it reminds us that Gentiles are adopted to be part of the family of Christ. And not only that, we are now a holy temple in the law. So one of the principal images that Paul uses to describe the new entity, which is Christians today, is a holy temple. In this new temple, there's no longer any fence or wall that separates Jew and Gentile. In fact, in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 16 to 18, the image of a temple is applied to believers in Christ. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 16 to 18 says, We are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. So, in summary, in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11 to 22, the central idea is that the nearness of God. God has come near to us. God has come near to reconcile two seemingly irreconcilable entities, Jew and Gentile, where there's hostility, there's no relation between these two entities because Jews have a unique identity as people who know the Messiah. But Gentiles are considered outcasts, they are considered uh totally not a part of God's community, and they were not even allowed into the temple uh area where God is being worshipped. If they go beyond a certain boundary, they will uh face the consequence of death. And Paul tells us that in Christ Jesus, we who were once far off have been brought near. So we have been brought near in Christ Jesus, who himself is our peace, by his blood to be fellow citizens with the saints, members of the household of God and a holy temple in the Lord. So all this sounds uh very uh very chim, very theological, very high sounding. You know, Jew, Gentile, you know, Christ has brought us near by his blood. And all these are indicatives, right? It tells us what Christ has done for us to bring us near, you know. Uh and maybe after today, after I end the sermon, you probably will not remember, you know, much uh with all the words, the big words being uh used about how God has brought us together. But what then is the implication uh for us as a church when we think about the fact that our identity, who are we really uh as a church? You know, we are, as the title of the sermon reminds us, we are being brought near by the blood of Christ. And this is who we are. Paul says this is who we are as the church of God. We are people who have been brought near. We are people who practice reconciliation in our lives, we are people who can forgive, can learn to say sorry when we are done wrong, because that is uh fundamental to what it means to be Christian. So, what are the implications for the church and for us today? I believe that as a church, God desires us to be characterized, that means the hallmark, the identity badge as Christians is radical love and forgiveness. Because that was what Christ did. He reconciled Jew and Gentile, two irreconcilable entities hostile to one another. Through his death, he created one new man out of the two, such that there's no longer. A division, a dividing wall of hostility. Yet all of us know that all these indicatives are true, but when we put Christians together, you know, everywhere we go, we do see A cannot agree with B, you know, they can't sit together, cannot work together, cannot put them together, put them together, they will fight, cannot agree. And that happens everywhere, right? It's not a judgment against YCCA, it's a word of uh, I won't say judgment, but uh burden uh as uh upon the worldwide church. You know, we are so divided in many ways in our uh the way we look at things, we are so divided in the way we uh work and view matters of the faith. But I believe that the hallmark of what a church is in a nutshell it is that we must be characterized by radical love and forgiveness. If you forget everything I say, just remember this, you know, because Christ has reconciled us together. The hallmark, we have been brought near by Christ. This is a reminder for us. Each time we gather, you know, we are a new entity in Christ. God creates, re-creates us to be one new person out of the two. Yet a lot of time the devil has a foothold over the lives of Christians because we are not able to live in harmony, we are not able to come to the point where we learn to live in harmonious relationship with one another. Um, Francis Schaefer, in his small book, The Mark of a Christian, um, just uh less than 50 pages long, he says uh love. He says this love and the unity it attests to. Love and the unity it attests to. It's the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Let me repeat again. Love and the unity that love attests to is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Only with this mark may the world know that Christians are indeed Christians and that Jesus was sent by the Father. Isn't this the word of Jesus in John 13, 34 to 35? Love one another. By this, all men will know. These are the words of Jesus, that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So, in other words, love is a live uh experience. You know, when we love one another, somehow the world the world will be drawn to us, the world will be drawn to love. So he goes on to say uh it's possible to be a Christian without showing the mark. Of course, it's possible. Otherwise, you know, how would we survive despite you know our disagreements? You know, it's possible, all of us can still be Christians without showing the mark of love. But if we expect non-Christians to know that we are Christians, we must show the mark. And he laments that Christians have not always presented an inviting picture to the world. Too often we have failed to show the beauty of authentic Christian love, and the world has disregarded Christianity as a result. But there's hope for us today. You know, that's why we are hearing God's word and drawing implications for our life. Because if we go back to the early church, the first three centuries of the church, uh, before it became an institution under the uh Roman, the Holy Roman Empire, in early Christianity, while the society of the day um practiced exclusivity that tended to alienate outsiders. That was the society that the Christians lived. Many sects, many cults, you know uh they alienate those who are outsiders, who were often made to feel unwelcome in their midst. The churches in the early church, the first three centuries, uh, turned this around, using their concern for one another as evidence that they were really one in the spirit. It was this dimension, historians tell us, it was this dimension of the Christian life, of their radical difference from the world, their concern for one another as evidence that they were one in the spirit, that kept the different churches in communion with one another. I'd like to suggest for us, I don't have it on slide today, but I believe we can all remember this. Uh, two simple ways that we can make radical love and forgiveness possible in our lives. Two simple ways. And I think we we'll do well to remember this. And the first way is to learn to say, I'm sorry. Right? I'm sorry. Because that is actually a very powerful word, I'm sorry. But the the fact is, as we grow older, we our skin becomes more thick like a rhinoceros, right? So we find it, wow, because of my pride of age or position. No, we find it very hard. Uh uh or if we are elder, you know, or we have a certain status in in society, we find it very hard, even to our own spouses, if you if we are honest to tell them we are sorry, I'm sorry. You know, yet those are the most powerful words. You know, when was the last time you said I'm sorry to a fellow believer? Not saying for fun, but when you have uh honestly done uh something wrong or some misunderstanding, or when was the last time you said I'm sorry to your spouse or to your children when uh you have hurt them knowingly or unknowingly? So we need to get used to saying I'm sorry because this is uh a mark of uh love and forgiveness. It reminds us that we are not there yet, you know, and we still make mistakes. But yet these words are so easy to say, yet so difficult to say, if you get what I mean, right? Because of pride position and just our status or even uh our gender issues. As men, we don't apologize, we are not wrong, right? And we uh we always think we are right, right? And and better than our wives. So we so we need to repent on that uh sometimes, right? So maybe it's the way we are being brought up. You know, to say sorry means we admit we are wrong. So how can I be wrong? I'm not wrong, you are wrong, right? So therefore, Christians continue to gather and live in community, yet, uh yeah, the person is sitting there, I don't want to sit there, I cannot work with that person. So we continue to live lives in such a way, yet it's so powerful, the three words. I'm sorry, right? And why is it so difficult? Because it's it's something very humbling. It's like, you know, when we come before God's presence and we kind of prostrate before him, you know, we kind of lay ourselves before him. It's very humbling to do that. Uh, it is almost laying yourself before God's presence. And um humility is a bit like that. To say I'm sorry means you are willing to come down to a position where you admit you're wrong, right? And I think we'll do well to practice that because we all stumble in many ways, none of us are perfect, and um we have to learn to say I'm sorry and mean it, you know, and and say it faster, you know, say it quicker to those who have hurt us. And the second word is I forgive you. I forgive you. Right? So this is uh probably a level higher than I'm so I'm sorry, say I forgive you. Right, and um, this is very powerful again, uh, to verbalize that. I wish I verbalize forgiveness more, as in literally say the word I forgive you. Because we live in a world that's very harsh, that is not tolerant of mistakes made. And sometimes our personalities add to the mix and makes it very difficult to forgive and to say I'm sorry. Just want to read an assert uh from uh some of us may be aware uh of uh Joseph Chuan, who is the the YWAM uh national director for many years. So he recently he passed on uh late last year. So of course there were many articles that came out uh that uh were written on him, sort and lied. And there's something that was was picked up by Thurst, right? And uh reading an assert from uh this news dated 22nd November 2023, it says, I forgive him. Kim Chien on the taxi driver involved in her husband, Joseph Chien's accident. So just reading a portion, I won't read I won't narrate the whole story because of time, but uh Kim, when he was there, she wanted to meet up with the driver that uh kind of uh caused the accident. So this is what uh what is being recorded on the website of TUS. It says, despite the police hesitation and refusal to give Kim the driver's contact, she was able to meet the driver at the police station due to an issue with a missing luggage item. The driver's mother also wanted to meet Kim. The taxi driver, who is only 21 years old, had apologized to Kim for what had happened to Joe. His mother also expressed her regret and asked if she could hug Kim. In response, Kim shared, I spoke about the effect of Joe's passing, how it affected not just me, the children and my in-laws, but also the wider circle of friends in Singapore and beyond. I spoke about how Joe was loved and the good work he was doing in different parts of the world. I shared that everyone makes mistakes, and we all need Isa or Jesus to forgive us. Therefore, I also forgive him. I told him I hope that he would learn from his mistake and live his life well, and that Isa, Jesus, loves him. I also spoke about how Joe would also forgive him despite what happened. So, of course, that is a real life uh testimony of living out our Christian faith. And it's never easy, you know, and everything within us wants not to forgive, right? Whenever we are wrong, everything within us is as if the we have an avalanche of our fleshly nature coming up. I've experienced that many times. I'm sure if you are humans like me, you will feel a sudden rush of anger, you know, and the last thing you want to do is to forgive or to say I'm sorry. Yet this is what uh we are as Christians. Our primary badge of identity, you know, is I'm sorry and I forgive you people. This is how the world will see us. This is how God is calling us to relate together in the body of Christ. To be, I'm sorry and I forgive you people. Because this is in a nutshell what Christianity is about. You know, the world out there is unforgiving. No one will forgive you. Come on. You know, you killed someone's husband. You know, how can I forgive? But it's only uh in Christianity we are taught that because Christ Himself reconciled two irreconcilable entities, Jew and Gentile, into one, creating one new man out of the two. So this is our identity. God is calling us to be I'm sorry and I forgive you, kind of people. So would you uh join me as we close in prayer? I just want us to take some time to allow the Spirit of God to search our hearts. Uh God knows that it's not easy to say the words I'm sorry, I forgive you, because of everything goes against our fleshly nature. Everything in us cries out for justice, cries out for fairness, and our self-righteousness comes up at times and we refuse to admit we are wrong. Yet these were the very same words that Jesus spoke while he was on the cross to the soldiers who were crucifying him. Can you imagine the pain, the agony that he went through on the cross? Yet uh he could mouth those words. It shows us that as followers of Jesus, if we call ourselves Christians, then we should model the life of Christ. So on the cross, despite his pain, suffering, and not sure even whether he could be coherent to speak words, yet scripture records for us these words that he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. So would you allow the Spirit of God to just search your hearts and tell the Lord, Lord, help me to learn to say I'm sorry and I forgive you. Help me to reflect the likeness of Christ and be the church you called us to be, which is a people characterized by radical love and forgiveness.

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We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.