1
LORD’S SUPPER – TEARING DOWN WALLS
Ephesians 2:11-22
Imagine coming to church this morning; only to find a wall
had been erected in the sanctuary… a barrier between the
pews and the Communion Table.
Paul reminds believers that there once was a wall keeping
them from the presence of God… That wall of separation was
there because God is holy and He cannot abide unholiness. Sin
separates us from God; sin always leads to separation.
Archeologists have uncovered an inscription from the outer
wall of Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem, the Temple which was
destroyed by the Roman army in 70 AD.
It carries a stern warning from the High Priest: “No foreigner
may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary
and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself
to blame for his ensuing death.”
Can you imagine if we had that written outside of our church
building? If we had big walls built that separated parts of the
church?
The Jewish Temple was full of partitions. There was the inner
Court of the Priests and the Temple Proper containing the Holy
Place and the “Holy of Holies” where the Ark of the Covenant
stood.
2
Access to these sacred places was limited to select Jewish
priests, and only the High Priest was allowed, once a year, on
the Day of Atonement, to enter the Holy of Holies.
And there were other divisions: the Women’s Court, and the
outer Court of the Gentiles, granting limited access to the
sacred places within.
Even today, in Israel there is the “Wailing Wall”, a.k.a. the
“Western Wall”, the only part of the Temple that remains
standing. Jewish worshippers pray for the peace of Jerusalem
and the restoration of the Temple.
Even here - there remains a division… separate sections
reserved for male and female worshippers.
Men are required to wear head coverings and women must
be dressed modestly and wear shawls. The Temple is the only
place on earth where sacrifice may be offered to God.
The absence of a Temple today is likely God’s way of saying
that sacrifice is no longer necessary. Jesus, our Messiah, is
Himself our sacrifice for sin… He provides an eternal atonement.
Walls divide people-—they keep us from our objectives.
People say they’ve “hit a wall” when their goals are blocked.
Seeing the end of the Cold War in Berlin on TV was an
awesome experience. Yet I had no illusions that the dramatic
events sweeping Europe would bring a lasting peace to our
world—this cannot occur until the problem of sin is overcome.
3
Sin produces enmity and strife against God and among
nations. Legislation, economic policies, social reforms, and
armed force cannot produce a lasting peace—only the power
of God can.
When nations learn to live at peace with God, they will be
able to live in peace with one another.
Christ came to remove all barriers… to make us one with
Him.
In vs. 14 we’re told, “He Himself is our peace, Who has made
us all one people. He has destroyed the barrier, the dividing
wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the Law with its
commandments and regulations…”, and moving to vs. 18, “For
through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”
Paul is describing the strife between Jewish and Gentile
believers. As the Church became more and more non-Jewish,
antagonism increased against the Jewish heritage of
Christianity. There began to be divisions… factions…
Yet Paul is saying that a new person has been created,
making all believers one in Christ… We are reconciled through
the Cross.
Those who are apart from Christ are in a bleak condition…
The wall they’ve built by thier sin and rebellion keeps them from
God, and is insurmountable unless they turn to the One Who
can tear down the barrier.
4
Verses 12 describes the condition of unbelievers:
I. Old Position (2:12)
“separate from Christ”
“excluded from citizenship”
“foreigners"
“without God and without hope”
II. Our New Position
“but now in Christ” (2:13)
“fellow citizens” (2:19)
“no longer foreigners and aliens” (2:19)
“God’s people, members of His household” (2:19)
“called to one hope” (4:4)
You see, sin keeps us from God, and this separation results in
death and judgment.
And Christ did not come to judge the world—the world had
already been judged… and was already under the sentence of
death since the fall of man in the Garden.
No… He came to bring us to God—to declare us righteous
and make us acceptable to God.
People try to scale this wall of separation by doing good
deeds, but God calls self-effort futile.
We vainly attempt to clothe ourselves with holiness but we
end up with “filthy rags” (Isaiah).
5
Others try to convince themselves that there is no wall at
all—they deny the reality of sin. Pretend the problem doesn’t
exist…
Yet the wall still stands… an insurmountable barrier between
us and God… and will remain so unless Christ becomes the vital
force of our lives.
There is no wall keeping us from receiving the Bread and
Cup this morning, although partaking in this Supper without faith
is meaningless…
If you don’t know Christ as Lord and Savior… If you don’t
know what He did for you… what you couldn’t do for yourself,
then taking communion is worthless…
Until the Cross, Jesus had never known (experientially)
alienation from the Father. He enjoyed unbroken fellowship as
God-the-Son.
The predetermined work of Christ was to remove our
punishment, as our perfect Substitute, so that we might be able
to enjoy communion with our Creator.
If sin is keeping any away from the Lord’s Supper, then
accepting Jesus as Savior is the remedy… By doing so, Christ
has dealt sin a death-blow by His death.
He has broken down the wall… He has – forever – removed
the separation between sinful men and a holy God.
6
In a few days, churches will meet together to observe the
National Day of Prayer. The Pope is noted as saying, “What
unites us in Christ is greater than that which divides us.”
Our unity comes from our common faith in the Person and
work of Jesus Christ. Make no mistake… we have differences,
but if we agree on the essentials of the Christian faith, we are
part of one body, the fellowship of all believers.
At the moment when our Lord yielded up His life on the cross,
Matthew records that “the veil of the Temple was torn in two
from top to bottom.”
This heavy curtain separated the inner Holy Place of the
Temple from its most sacred space.
The barrier was destroyed, along with the legal barrier that
separated Jews from Gentiles—we are all saved the same way,
through the sacrifice of Christ… We all have access to God.
In Galatians Paul says, “There is no longer Jew or Gentile,
slave or free, male or female, for you are all Christians—you are
one in Christ Jesus” (3:28). The author of Hebrews says that we
may “boldly enter the presence of God through our Savior”
(4:16). Christ brings us into the Holy of Holies.
Just prior to the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of
Germany, President Ronald Reagan stood before the
Brandenburg Gate and shouted, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down
this wall!” Now in Berlin it’s nearly impossible to see where the
Wall even was. Impossible to determine where East met West.
7
And in a similar way, Christ demolished the wall that
separates us from God and each other by His sacrificial death.
We are no longer foreigners and aliens, but citizens of God’s
Kingdom and members of His household. We move from
despair to hope in Christ.
Here’s my point: Unless we take the remedy of the cross, we
remain under the sentence of death and face eternal
separation.
To flee God’s wrath, we look to His love... Our sins are either
punished in Christ or they will be punished in us.
We can remain behind the wall of sin and separation, or turn
to the only One Who can tear down that wall… once and for
all…
The Lord’s Supper celebrates the destruction of that wall.
When we turn to Christ, the wall of separation comes crashing
down.
As we prepare to receive the Bread and Cup this morning,
let us rejoice with relief and security, knowing that “nothing can
separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ our
Lord” (Romans 8:39).
PRAY