Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

Once Far Off, Now Brought Near! (Ephesians 2:11-13)

Bryan Schneider · February 22, 2020

Ephesians 2:11-13

sharonrpc.org/sermons/once-far-off-now-brought

Summary

Paul commands Gentile believers to remember what they were apart from Christ so that grace, hope, and belonging will not become ordinary to them.
Outward circumcision was a covenant sign pointing beyond human hands to the inward circumcision of the heart that God gives.
Apart from Christ, the Gentiles were alienated from Israel's citizenship, strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope, and without God in the world.
Pagan religion could not supply settled hope because idols offered no sure redemption, peace, or fulfilled covenant promise.
The decisive words are “But now”: in Christ Jesus, those once far away have been brought near by his blood.
Believers are no longer strangers but God's loved sons and daughters, sharing the promises, hope, and access secured by Christ.

Have I forgotten the helpless condition from which Christ brought me and begun to treat grace as ordinary?
Am I trusting an outward sign, family history, or church culture without the inward reality of a heart changed by God?
Where do modern idols promise security while leaving people without real hope or peace?
Do I understand the Old Testament covenants as promises fulfilled and shared in Christ?
When I feel like a stranger, do I believe that Christ's blood has brought me near as a loved child of God?
How should remembering former alienation make me humbler toward people who are presently far from Christ?

Circumcision of the heart: God's inward work removing spiritual hardness and enabling his people to love him, to which the outward covenant sign pointed.
Commonwealth of Israel: The covenant community with its divinely given worship, promises, laws, and privileges from which Gentiles were naturally alienated.
Covenants of promise: God's gracious commitments, beginning prominently with Abraham, that unfold the promised blessing and Redeemer.
Without God: Lacking the true God despite the presence of many idols and religious practices.
Brought near: Reconciled and admitted to God's covenant blessings and presence through the blood of Jesus Christ.