Integrity

A few years ago, just at the new century was about to begin, I received an anonymous letter promising to tell me the secret behind the "mark of the Beast" mentioned in the Book of Revelation.  That would be useful information to have, wouldn't it? The catch was I had to call a “900-number" and listen to a message that would cost $2.99 per minute.  The letter didn’t say how long the call would take.

Frankly, I equate those who take this approach with those so-called doctors who claim to have the cure for cancer but refuse to openly share it because the larger medical community has never appreciated their genius.

Paul was privy to a great mystery, a mystery he was willing to share with all.  For Paul, it was a matter of integrity.  That’s behind what he says in Ephesians 31-13.

Recently, I was reminded of Jim Bakker.  Baker was at the heart of the televangelism scandals a few years ago.  He went to prison for fraud.  He had forgotten the importance of integrity.  Bakker, of course, wasn’t the only celebrity minister involved in the scandal.  Several a men and at least one woman were the focus of media attention for months.  But I mention Bakker because he mustered the integrity to truly repent and acknowledge his failure.  He wrote a book he called I Was Wrong.  He had lost his integrity and then regained it.

 Not all of those involved in the scandals did.

As a minister, when I think about those days, I have to remind myself there may be a little “Elmer Gantry” in all of us? 

  As I look around today, I’m aware we have by no means moved beyond the possibility of churches becoming victims of ministers who have lost their integrity, of churches that have become their pawns.  Did you know there are websites existing solely to publicize church scandals?  I’m not going to name any of them because I want you to keep reading but I’m sure you could find them if you wanted to.

In this passage, Paul reminds his readers that from the beginning God intended to include the Gentiles in the blessings of salvation.  Doing so called for a ministry marked by integrity.

How do you recognize such a ministry?  I think the passage suggests several key questions.  Here they are.

DOES THE MINISTRY POSSESS AN HONEST HUMILITY?

Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people,

this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles

 the boundless riches of Christ…

Paul really saw himself as “the less than the least.”  He didn’t believe he was the star of his ministry.  He rejoiced in being a “servant.”  Here the word means “a table waiter.” 

A few years ago, in response to the televangelist scandals, Ray Stevens wrote a fun song that asked “Would Jesus wear a Rolex on his television show?”  It’s a good question, thought-provoking, in fact.  Remember how just before the crucifixion we see Jesus wearing a towel and carrying a basin to wash his disciples’ feet.

Paul has show we are all trophies of God’s grace (2:8-9); those who minister with integrity had better not pretend to be anything else.

Yohana Omari, the first African bishop of Tanzania, described what he wanted for his ministry.  He said:  “I want to be like the little donkey our Lord chose to ride on to enter Jerusalem.  They laid their robes on it and shouted, but the shouting was all for the Lord Jesus whom he was carrying.”

Without that kind of humility a pastor won’t be ready to listen to advice from older pastors or older members within the church.  Instead such pastors will insist their way is the only way.

I’ve heard too many stories of young ministers going to smaller churches but never really settling in because their eyes were on a bigger prize—the big church, the prestigious pulpit, or even a denominational post. Such a ministry is often a stranger to real humility.

DOES THE MINISTRY PROCLAIM A CHRIST-CENTERED MESSAGE?  ?

In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

Paul wanted his readers to know God was at work in Christ to bring redemption and reconciliation.  He rejoiced in the privilege of sharing God’s secret—which wasn’t really a secret anymore.  His message was about Christ, not about Paul.  He wanted his readers’ hope to be in Christ, not Paul.

The Christian’s hope for the future is based on what Christ has done, not what any minister has done.  A ministry’s integrity is in jeopardy whenever it becomes a personality cult, when people idolize the preacher, when people won’t hear God’s Word from any other preacher, no matter how faithful their message might be.  It’s dangerous.

An old story tells of how D. L. Moody was walking down the streets of Chicago when he met a man who was obviously drunk.  “Hello, Mr. Moody,” the man shouted, “I’m one of your converts.”  Moody answered, “You must be one of my converts, you can’t be one of Christ’s.”

Raise doubts about any ministry that asks you to put our trust in human agents rather than Christ.

DOES THE MINISTRY PROMOTE HARMONY?

In the previous chapter Paul talked of how the walls had come down to create one new people of God.  He saw that as the great goal of his preaching, to bring people together, Jews and Gentiles; as verse 13 indicates, he was even willing to suffer for this new body of believers.

He would never think of driving a wedge between God’s people (vs. 6).  That refusal to harm the church, to disrupt its harmony, was rooted in a genuine love for the church.  He would do nothing to create factions or parties in the church.

Any ministry that attempts to turn the young against the old, the educated against the uneducated, has lost its integrity.    It may not generate a scandal but it should be a warning.

Images of a New People

Several years ago, well before the demise of the former Soviet Union, you may have watched a television miniseries called Amerika (spelled with a "K"). It told the story of life in the United States after the nation had been taken over by the Soviets. We were never told how it happened; we just know it happened.

Some of the characters in Amerika were uncertain about what it means to be an American. One of the younger characters said, "I'm an American but I really don't know what that means. "

In my imagination I can hear some in our churches saying, "I'm a Christian but I really don't know what that means.”

 Here’s the deal, through Christ a gracious God has created one new people.  This new identity is so significant that some of the old markers of identity no longer mean anything: “All distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and freeman, male and female, have vanished—for in union with Christ you are all one.” (Gal. 3:28) That much we know. But what are these new people like? How are we to imagine them? What images best describes them?

Here in Ephesians 2:19-22, Paul uses three images to help us understand the nature and character of God's new people, the church.  One of Paul's goals in writing to the Ephesians must have been to help them define their new identity as it emerged through their relationship to Christ.

Each figure of speech he used showed both the singularity and the solidarity of Christians within the church.

Baptism says to the world "I am a Christian." That's wonderful but sometimes we're not really clear about what that means; our thinking is muddled about who we are.  

Since Christ allows us to enjoy new relationships, new rights, and new spiritual reality we ought to live as new people in the real world.

To try to clear up any confusion, let's look at the word-pictures Paul draws:

I

AS A CHRISTIAN,

YOU ARE A CITIZEN OF GOD'S NEW NATION

Here are two examples of a very significant document.  You may have one; if you do, you know how important it can be. 

                              

They are passports.  Your passport identifies you as a citizen of the nation issuing the document.  In our world, being able to establish your citizenship is increasingly important.

Picking up a theme from earlier in the chapter, Paul depicts a transition from exclusion to inclusion. They had been "foreigners and aliens"--that meant they had no civil rights. Now they possessed full citizenship. Paul tells us that Christians have become citizens of God's new nation.

What does this mean for us?

You have the right of petition. (“For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”)

Remember how Gentiles were once forbidden to enter the temple. Now Gentiles who were formerly excluded now have access to the Father who is a King, to the King who is a Father.

In its noun form, the Greek word prosagoge (translated 'access') refers to an official in the royal court whose duty was to conduct visitors into the king's presence. Paul is saying the Holy Spirit brings us into the Father’s presence.  Later in the epistle Paul will call on Christians to pray. We can pray with confidence because we have the privilege of access.

You have the right of protection.

In the Roman world citizenship often carried a degree of protection. In the Book of Acts Paul escaped a flogging because he was a Roman citizen.

Again, later in the letter Paul will speak of the spiritual forces arraigned against the Christian.  Our identity in Christ gives us protection from these forces.

You have the right of participation.

There are no second-class citizens in the church. The church must be a place of equal rights.

You all share in the blessings of being part of God's new nation.

Alphonse Legros, an artist of the last century, was born in France but became a British citizen after taking a teaching post at University College in London. Another French artist, perhaps incensed at Legros's decision, asked him what he hoped to gain by his "defection". Legros responded, "To begin with, I win the battle of Waterloo!"

Because of your new citizenship you share the victory Jesus Christ won over the power of death and you will share in his victory in the final battle with evil.

II

AS A CHRISTIAN YOU ARE

A MEMBER OF GOD'S NEW FAMILY

Maybe you’ve seen something like this on the back window of a car.

                             

It’s a little “stick figure” family.  Sometimes they vary, two boys or two girls, three children or more; sometimes they even include the dog or the cat.  The driver is celebrating being part of a family.

"You are a part of God's family," one translation renders the last phrase of verse 19. We live in a world that can be cold and lonely. Maybe you’ve seen some of those other signs on the back windows of cars, signs saying things like “I hate your stick figure family” or worse.  I find it troubling how someone can be so agitated about another person’s happiness.  Maybe it reflects a heart that has no reason to celebrate family.

(Janet Bernardi, is co-author of A Generation Alone, a book about those born between 1961 and 1981.  She says that the defining feature of that generation may be summed up in the word "aloneness". She describes the experience in these terms:

"Aloneness is being alone and not being able to trust anyone. It carries over from family life and friendships onto the job. My own job situation is fairly typical. I am expected to be there, but I am not really needed. This was made clear to me recently when one of my coworkers, who has about the same training and experience as I, was replaced by an eighteen-year-old high school graduate-who can be paid less. Like many people my age, I work at a job where I could be easily replaced. We know that no one really needs us. We could disappear and nothing would change.

Aloneness is not loneliness. While loneliness is a state of emptiness, in aloneness one's life is full of activities but without the aid of family or friends. It encompasses a basic distrust of people and a fear of being hurt. Aloneness is largely about fear.

It stems from abandonment or neglect and leads to alienation from friends, family and society. Aloneness separates this generation from every other. "[1]

Against this backdrop the notion of the new people of God being a family is particularly appealing.

This feeling played out in the day-to-day lives of the Christians.  One of the most frequently used words to describe Christians is "brothers".

Most churches have members for whom only family they have ever known is the church.

God's new family is marked by a sense of community.  

We have communion with God. (Romans 8:15 "You received the Spirit of adoption, and by him we cry, 'Abba, Father."')

We have communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

God's new family is marked by a spirit of compassion.

The family of God ought to be a place of understanding and restoration.

The family of God ought to be a place where those wounded by the world can come for healing and recovery.

III

AS A CHRISTIAN YOU ARE A STONE IN GOD'S NEW TEMPLE

         

Here is a brick like the ones used to build this building. Thousands were used in the building, each one carefully fitted with others to make the walls surrounding us. Remove one of those bricks and nothing much might happen--at first--only when the elements began to find their way into the opening it left would we realize how much that brick mattered, remove three or four and we would notice the ugly gap in the wall and the damage would be hastened; remove many more and the integrity of the wall would be compromised. Each brick is important.

Listen to Paul’s last word-picture of the new people of God.  He says you are …

…built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

As Paul opens up this analogy he has some important things to say about the church, the people of God.

The new temple of God is built with stability.

The stability is there because of the "foundation". The teachings of the "apostles and prophets" (as embodied in the Bible) form the foundation of the church.

No building can be stable if it slips from its foundation. In an age of relativism we are in danger of forgetting the foundation on which the Christian Faith was built. Christians may differ about styles of worship, music preference, and even on matters such as dress, but most Christians have recognized there are certain core beliefs that the church cannot abandon without losing its identity as a church.

The stability is there because of the "cornerstone".

Lutheran New Testament scholar R C H Lenski points out that “the angle of the cornerstone governs all the lines and other angles of the building, "

Jesus is the Church's cornerstone. It is crucial for us to understand Who he was and why he came.

Philip Yancey has written a book called The Jesus I Never Knew that explores the ministry of Jesus in depth, stressing such matters as Jesus’ Jewishness and his radical approach to the world. Some of the new books on Jesus could be called The Jesus No One Ever Knew. With little or no evidence to support them, some writers are portraying Jesus as a magician, a traveling healer, a political rabble-rouser, as anything but the incarnate Son of God. Why is it important what we think of Jesus? Because he is the cornerstone, because he links us with what God is doing in history.

If we want the new temple of God to remain stable we had better make sure we are on the right foundation, aligned with the right cornerstone.

The new temple of God is built with solidarity. (21-22)

Paul here is speaking of the unity of Jews and Gentiles, but there is a broader picture of the unity that comes from our relationship with Christ. Though many "stones" go into building the temple, there is a fundamental unity.

Every stone has its place. No stone is unimportant. The purpose of the temple was to be a place where God could be found. The church is to be a place where God is to be found.

Unlike a temple of granite and marble, the new temple of God moves into the world, carrying the presence of God with it. You have a part of bringing God into your world.

The language suggests an ongoing growth or building. The new temple isn't finished yet.

Christians of every race and nation are constantly becoming a part of that building,

The new temple of God is marked by sanctity. (21a, 22)

In Israel there was no more holy place than the temple because that was the dwelling place of God. The church is the dwelling place of God. Where God is the Spirit is, His Spirit is in the Church--his HOLY Spirit.

In some ways the church has lost sight of its call to holiness. The church is not to withdraw from the world as if it fears contact.  Christians certainly are not to exhibit a spirit of superiority as it they were better than their neighbors. 

When my wife taught in New Orleans one of her students learned she was a Baptist.  “I’m a Baptist, too,” the student said. 

“Oh,” my wife said, “which church do you go to?” 

The girl said, “I go to the Sanctified Baptist Church.”

“I’ve not heard of that one,” my wife said and asked, “How is it different from the other Baptist churches?”

The student casually answered, “I guess we’re just more sanctified than the others.”

The church ought always to aspire to holiness but be ever aware she has a long way to go before she has attained it.

That’s why Christians should be welcoming to sinners because Christ was welcoming to them. The church is not the church if it does not welcome sinners; the church is not the church if it does not model for those sinners a different way of life.

From the earliest centuries the church has been described as "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic". We can't forget to be holy.

CONCLUSION

You don't have to say, I'm a Christian but I really don't know what that means. In Christ you possess a new status. I want you to enjoy that new status.

You are a citizen of God's new nation.

You are a member of God's new family.

You are a stone in God's new temple.

Do you ever feel like you are on the outside looking in?

Come in from the powerlessness. Come in from the loneliness.

Come in from the meaninglessness.

---

[1] William Mahedy and Janet Bernardi, A Generation Alone: Xers Making a Place in the World. Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter Varsity Press, 1994. The book uses "Generation X" and "Baby Busters" as synonymns. Some are beginning to use Generation X as a reference to those born after 1979. Bernardi does not necessarily view "aloneness" as a completely bad condition, believing that it might open a door to greater spiritual depth.

Walls Tumbling Down

August 12, 1961.  The tension between East and West had grown to such intensity East German authorities built a wall overnight to divide the city of Berlin in an attempt to control the flow of those trying to escape from the communist sector of the city to the West.  That wall came to symbolize the divide between freedom and servitude.

Then, in 1989, we saw pictures of German young people--some who hadn’t been born when the wall was built—waiting for machines to begin tearing down the wall.  They grew impatient and began tearing apart to hated wall by hand.  It was exciting to see their enthusiasm when that wall came down.

The Berlin Wall is down but our world is still filled with walls, walls separating people who do not share the same skin color, the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated.  For some, a wall exists between themselves and God.

In this passage (Ephesians 2:11-18), Paul is coming very close to the heart of this letter’s message.  Remember it’s theme: Through Christ a gracious God has created one new people to have fellowship with him and with each other as they live for him and work for him in the real world.

Christ has opened the way to new heavenly and earthly relationships.

As he did at the beginning of the chapter, Paul invites his readers to look back…

Alienation Apart from Christ

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (which is done in the body by human hands)—remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. (2:11-12)

A deep antagonism existed between Jews and Gentiles.  Anti-Semitism existed, with its disdain for all things Jewish.  But the Jews also had little regard for the non-Jewish peoples.  A verse in the Talmud said, “It is forbidden to give good advice to Gentiles.”  There was a sign in the Temple courtyard warning, “No foreigner may enter…the sanctuary and enclosure.  Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.” 

Beyond this, there is a spiritual issue.  Being “separate from Christ” they were also “excluded from citizenship in Israel—foreigners to the covenants of the promise.”  As Gentiles, they had no claim the great promises made to the Jews.  Moreover, they were “without hope and without God in the world.”  In saying they were “without hope,” Paul likely means they had no foundation for hope beyond the grave.  Though they might have convinced themselves they did, that foundation was but shifting sand.  Certainly they could place no hope in their own goodness, they had none.  (Just as Paul made clear the Jews had no hope in their own goodness.) 

And what does it mean to say they were “without God?”  Now, let me begin by saying I don’t believe Paul means God never showed common grace or sometimes even special grace to any non-Jew.  There are hints suggesting he did in both the Old and New Testaments.  Paul may be saying their faulty conception of God or gods, amounted to no knowledge at all.  Again, a point that is not absolutely clear in the Scripture.  In light of what Paul said earlier in the chapter (vs. 2), the phrase certainly suggests living with no acknowledgement of God.

The crucial point is that the Gentiles were “separate from Christ.”  Paul’s pre-conversion perspective on the Messiah would have said the Messiah brought nothing for the Gentiles except judgment.  Now he knew better.  Christ came not just to bless one people—but the bless the Gentiles.  In fact, Christ did something far more remarkable than just blessing two peoples. 

To understand this we need to look at the

Abolishing Act of Christ

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away from God are brought near through the blood of Christ’s death.  Christ himself is our peace. He made both Jewish people and those who are not Jews one people. They were separated as if there were a wall between them, but Christ broke down that wall of hate by giving his own body.  The Jewish law had many commands and rules, but Christ ended that law. His purpose was to make the two groups of people become one new people in him and in this way make peace.  It was also Christ’s purpose to end the hatred between the two groups, to make them into one body, and to bring them back to God. Christ did all this with his death on the cross.

(2:13-16)

Now things have changed.  The outsiders have become insiders.  Those who were distant are now near. 

This is the work of Jesus Christ.  Paul even says, “Christ is our peace.”  He brings the reconciliation we need to overcome the alienation and estrangement resulting from the fall.  Teachers of an earlier age used to illustrate this point using the cross:

              

                                               

It is a simple lesson but an important one.  The cross has a vertical beam pointing us upward, (é) reminding us of its power to affect our relationship with God.  The cross has a horizontal beam pointing around us (ç è), reminding us of its power to affect our relationships with one another.  Because of Christ’s death, believing Jews and Gentiles are able to join together “inside the circle of God’s love.” (J.B. Phillips trans.)

What happened at the cross was far more than the execution of an innocent man.  Certainly, as Paul would tell the Romans, “our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies.” (Ro. 5:10 NLT)  But as the apostle makes clear her, that same cross makes possible our reconciliation with our fellow human beings.

Perhaps nothing symbolized the separation of Jews from Gentiles more than “the system of law with its commandments and regulations.”  Circumcision, diet, even hairstyles marked the Jews as different from the Gentiles.  Now, all that had been abolished—a point he argues in-depth in Galatians.  There, he will argue that these outward elements no longer have any spiritual significance or merit.

Here he declares that “Christ has reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.”

One of the most shameful features of Christian history is recurrent anti-Semitism justified with the charge that Jews killed Christ.  This attitude has led Christians to believe the most outrageous slanders against the Jewish people and been used to justify pogroms leading to Jews being dispossessed and exiled from lands where they lived peacefully for generations.  That behavior, that hypocrisy, often in the name of Christ, has sometimes caused Christ to be hated. (cf. Ro. 2:24)

Because of the cross we now have

Access and Association Through Christ.

He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups….

He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.  For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

 (2:15b, 117-18)

These verses weave together the two aspects of reconciliation we have through Christ.  First, let’s look at the heavenward reconciliation.  Christ “came and preached peace” to the Gentile “who were far away” and to the Jews “who were near.” 

The Gentiles were “far away” in the sense they were not part of the people God had chosen as guardians of his revelation to the world.  (cf. Ro. 3:2)

The Jews were “near” because they had that revelation and had been the historic witnesses to God’s activity in the world.

But both needed to be reconciled to God.  Christ provided this “peace.”  Here the word is used to describe the product of reconciliation; it involves peace of heart and mind but it involves much more.  It involves access to God.  No longer barred because of sinful rebellion, we can approach God as Friend and Father. 

The Trinity is involved in the peace-work.  Because the Son died for us, the Spirit can bring us into the Father’s presence.  This peace gives quiet to our souls in the face of difficulty and challenge, confidence to our praying when we are uncertain what to pray for, and certainty in our status as God’s children even though we are much aware of our unworthiness to bear that title.

Of course, the two aspects of peace are related.

F.F. Bruce commented on the verse, “Those who enter into peace with God must have peace with one another.”  In fact, it seems those who claim to have a right relationship with God but have broken relationships with their fellow humans should seriously question the health of the former.

The imagery is powerful.  Through Christ, God created “one new people.” God has produced “one new Man,” “one new humanity,” or as The Message treats the verse, “Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.” One commentator writes, “Jew and Gentile are joined in the body of Christ…to become, as it were, a ‘third race’ fitted for life in the new creation.”

Paul set forth a vision for Christians that was remarkable in his day and remains remarkable in ours.

Observations:

With that vision in mind, I’m going to offer some observations.

1.  God not only ones individuals reconciled to him, he wants them reconciled to each other.

2.  The gospel continues to enable formerly antagonistic peoples to meet as one.  In Israel there are churches made up of believers who come from Jewish backgrounds and believers who come from Arab backgrounds.  Only the power of the gospel can make that possible.

3.  Honesty demands we recognize that cultural dynamics sometime overrule the implications of the gospel allowing old divisions, prejudices, and antagonisms to hold sway.  Christians in too many places still allow skin-color and ethnic background to keep them from worshipping with those who confess the same faith and sing the same hymns.

4.  Nevertheless, God has called his new people to be agents of peace and reconciliation.  We must confess our failures and strive to bring people together.

Conclusion:

When the Berlin wall came down, people around the world celebrated.  Through the power of the gospel we can celebrate as we see even more formidable walls come down.