7 – The Friendship of the Cross
by Jeff Fry
Darwin Park Community Church, UK
Ephesians 2:11-19
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-- 12 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. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household
Thesis: We should feel the friendship of God through the cross
I. Intro
A. Review
1. Suffering of the cross
Thesis: we must cross-suffer like Jesus (Hebrews 12:1 – “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles that we may run the race …”
2. Wickedness of the cross
Thesis: the cross justifies the wicked
That means you and me – we are sinful, ungodly, wicked
God doesn’t accept good people trying to be right in his eyes, God accepts wicked people who are willing to receive the forgiveness bought for them through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross
3. Forgiveness of the cross
Thesis : we must live as forgiven sinners
Picture is that humanity all are in body bags which represent their sin – they can’t breathe spiritually and are dead (what would it feel like and be like to be trapped in a body bag where there is no oxygen and you can’t breathe?)
The cross pops the body bag and lets fresh air in and the person comes alive
Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins
4. Victory of the cross
Thesis: we must live in the victory of the cross, not in defeat.
Evil powers hold a certificate of debt against us. This is an IOU before God of all our sins that we have committed.
“having cancelled the written code (certificate of indebtedness) … he took it away nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14)
So, when Satan throws up your sins in front of your face again say to him
“What of it. I have a rescuer Jesus Christ who took away that guilt and nailed it to the cross never to be seen or remembered again.
These past sins and traumatic events which happened to me cannot be brought up again against me.
I am not defined by my past, but rather by who I am in Christ.
5. Notoriety of the Cross
Thesis: God purposed that everyone should know about the cross
Colossians 2:15 says, “15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them (in public), triumphing over them by the cross.
Have you ever thought about why Jesus’ death was so public? Because that’s the way God wanted it.
Someone last week said that in this way there would be a lot of witnesses – and that is exactly right.
And all would hear about it.
And we are God’s ambassadors
That is our calling and purpose – to tell others about the cross and the good news of it.
6. The Cover of the cross
a) Thesis: We should be thankful that the cross covers us from the wrath of God
b) Romans 3:25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished
c) Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!
d) God still hates sin and must punish sin but in His love He sent Jesus to take our punishment for us.
B. This week
1. We should experience the friendship of God through the cross
II. We should feel befriended through the cross
A. State
1. Get our head around the passage : Read Ephesians 2:11-19
a) Background of Ephesians 2:11ff
(1) Paul throws up two symbolic men
(a) Letter addressed to Gentile believers
(b) Gentile believers as described in Eph 2:11ff
(i) “uncircumcised” (v. 11)
(ii) “separate from Christ” (v. v. 12)
(iii) “excluded from citizenship in Israel” (v. 12)
(iv) foreigners to the covenants of promise (v. 12)
(v) “without hope” (v. 12)
(vi) “without God” (v. 12)
(vii) “far away” (v. 13)
(viii) “aliens” (v. 19)
(ix) “foreigners” (v. 19)
(c) Jew
(i) “the circumcision” (v. 11)
(ii) “to those who were near” (v. 17)
2. The friendship of God reaches out to us
a) God takes the initiative because he loves us
(1) We were enemies of God
(a) Ephesians 2:16 says, “and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility”.
(b) Reconciliation assumes a broken relationship which is then reconciled, put back together, healed, mended, made right.
(i) For us today “to reconcile” = “to make friends”
(ii) Reconciliation means there are two sides who are at odds with each other
(a) For example, in Romeo and Juliet there was the Montagues and the Capulets
(b) Two feuding families
(c) Before we trusted Jesus we were enemies of God (wrogiem) and needed to be made his friend.
(d) Why were we enemies of God? What made us enemies of God?
(i) We rebelled against God knowingly or unknowingly via our sin (ie. our defiance of God, our neglect of God, our breaking of God’s law, avoidance of God, etc)
(e) Colossians 1:21 says, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death …”
(i) The relationship is described with words such as “alienated”, “enemies (in your mind)”.
(a) “mind” = emotions, acts of the will, totality of man’s spiritual nature
(ii) God is perfectly holy
(iii) Every one of us is a sinner (i.e. not perfectly holy)
(iv) The cross takes care of the sin problem and rips up the certificate of sinfulness (debt)
(2) God made the first move to restore the relationship with us (we didn’t make the first move)
(a) God sent Jesus to die on the cross when we were still sinning against Him and when we were His enemies rebelling against Him
(i) Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(ii) God risked rejection
(iii) God’s love was unconditional to our performance, attitude, achievement, accomplishments, attainments, looks, talents, abilities, etc.
(iv) He laid the gift of Christ out for us even while we were in a state of rebellion against him.
(b) 1John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us”
(c) I John 4:10 says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
(i) While God is just and must punish sin, His first and natural reaction is love. That is why he sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin instead of punishing us. Sin was punished (this is the justice part) and we were spared (this is love).
(d) So, what? Why does the cross make any difference to us?
(i) It changes everything. It enables friendship with God.
(a) Col. 1:21 “once you were alienated … But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death ….”
(b) Paul is saying that through the cross our relationship with God has changed – from enemies to friends
(c) “once” in verse 21 refers to our pagan, pre-Christian past
(d) “but now” refers to our present standing before God as believers in Christ
(e) this is our spiritual standing before God or as some theologians say, “this is how God sees us as believers”
B. Illustrate
1. Who is your worst enemy? Think of the person you are most at odds with, that is most repulsive, that you would least enjoy spending time with and multiply that by 1000! That is how we were to God. We were morally repulsive people. But God loved us anyway and sent Jesus for us and we became God’s friends.
a) When we say we love someone what we mean is this – Jane and Ben are walking down the beach in the cool evening sun. Ben says to Jane, “Jane, I love you. I love your beautiful, brown, flowing hair, your smooth skin is so soft to the touch, your button nose is so cute, your smile makes me feel great …” But you’d never catch Ben saying, “Jane, I just love your greasy hair, your wrinkled skin, your bulbous nose and your constant frown just really turns me on.”
b) But God’s love is extraordinary: Morally we are the person with the bulbous nose, greasy hair, wrinkled skin, bad breath, etc. etc and He still loves us. He wants to be our friend.
C. Apply
1. We are to reflect God in our life as much as we can. What does it mean for us that God took the initiative to love and have a relatoinship with dirty, rebellious, morally disgusting sinners like us?
a) How are we to relate to others who we may not enjoy being around for one reason or another?
(1) They are rude
(2) They are arrogant
(3) They are pompous
(4) They are boastful
(5) They are insulting
b) Are there any types of people that you have a hard time loving?
(1) God doesn’t say you have to be their best friend but He does call us to love them (all men even men we don’t like).
(2) Where would it have left you if God had treated you conditionally?
c) How does God’s love teach us to love others and to relate to others esp. the fact that He took the initiative to love us?
(1) God is the God of relationships – Father , Son and Holy Spirit – the three in one.
(2) When is the last time you took the risk and initiated a relationship with someone?
(3) What keeps you from initiating relationships with others? Fear, rejection, uncertainty? Where do you think these negative thoughts are coming from – God or Satan?
(a) We relate to others best out of a firm knowledge of who we are in God’s eyes
(i) Accepted by God
(ii) Secure in God
(iii) Significant in God (this is a main part of the Freedom in Christ course)
(4) How do you picture God? Do you see yourself lovingly accepted by God or is God distant, cold and suspicious of you? How was your own father toward you? We often project our own father onto God the father and this can give us problems if our father was cold and distant.
(a) My Dad & the kite
III. Conclusion
A. God wants to be your friend! The cross is His way of making that relationship happen, it is His invitation to you to be freinds …
1. like one big text message from God saying “I love you and want to be your friend”
2. It’s like a giant symbol of God telephoning you or stopping by your house just to spend time with you - forever.
3. It’s God building a bridge over the huge chasm of separation so that you can be together with Him.
B. God has taken the initiative to befriend you by sending His own son to reach out to you and say that He loves you. How have you responded to this incredible act of love by God? (Prayer for the acceptance of starting a relationship with God)
C. God wants to be your friend!