We will begin with Ephesians 2:11-16.

This is what I want you to notice in this reading. You have two very different groups of people Paul acknowledged. The first group was the Jews who were God's "called out people" for over 1400 years. For 1400 years they received God's scripture. In fact, this scripture was written to them. For 1400 years they heard God's prophets. The prophets were God's voice to them. For l400 years they have had specific forms, specific ways of doing things. Those forms included everything from the way they worshipped to the way the treated each other.

The second group, known to Jews as Gentiles, were all people who were not Jews. God did not write any scripture to these people. All the known prophets from scripture were Jewish prophets. These people who were not Jews had a different set of gods, a different set of forms, differences in the way they worshipped, and differences in the way they treated each other [morality codes].

The problem: most Jews who were Christians adamantly declared that people who were not Jews and became Christians had to do things their way. If religiously people who were not Jews did not do things their way, then God could not possibly accept them as His people.

As we read, this is what I want you to notice.

1. These two groups of Christians had real problems accepting each other.
2. Paul wanted them to understand that God did not care if they were Jews or gentiles as long as they placed their lives in Jesus Christ.
3. The problem was a human problem, not God's problem. What was a struggle for humans was an achieved goal for God.

Read with me as we look at Ephesians 2:11-16.
Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands--remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

Did you notice what Paul said to the Christians at Ephesus?

1. "The problem you have in reacting to differences is your problem, not God's problem."
2. "What you consider a problem God considers an accomplished goal in Jesus Christ."

The second statement from Paul I want you to notice is found in this same letter to the Christians at Ephesus. It is found in Ephesians 4:20-24.

In this statement Paul focused their attention on God's goal in all of them. Not their goal, but God's goal! One of the reasons they had problems as Christians accepting each other was caused by this: they substituted their goals for God's goal.

As we read this statement, ask yourself one question: "What was God's goal?" As we read together, ask that question, and see if you hear Paul's answer.

Ephesians 4:20-24 But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

In Paul's statement to the Christians at Ephesus, what was God's goal? God's goal is to create again or anew any and every person who comes to Him through Jesus Christ. If a person is in Christ, God's goal to is recreate that man or woman. Instead of being the person he or she was, he or she will become a new, recreated self. And how will it be visibly evident that this person has been recreated? By God's standards, he or he is committed to being a righteous person dedicated to holiness.

1. Since Jesus died and was resurrected long ago, what is God's goal in your life and my life?
   1. God's goal had not changed.
      1. It was God's goal throughout the generations before He sent Jesus.
      2. It was God's goal throughout the generations after He send Jesus.
      3. It is God's goal right now.
      4. It will still be God's goal after everyone of us is dead and buried.
   2. God created a "very good" world with humans made in His image.
      1. Evil perverted the "very good" creation God made by enticing humans to rebel against God.
      2. From the moment evil produced human rebellion, God tried to influence humans to reconcile to Him.
      3. God can cause reconciliation to occur in the lives of those who accept Jesus as the Christ, and God does it by recreating the lives of those in Christ.
   3. Look at the simple progression:
      1. The sovereign God created a "very good" creation.
      2. Rebellious humans rejected the sovereign God and ruined His "very good" creation.
      3. God wants to destroy the rebellion through the reconciliation of recreating the person who comes to Jesus Christ.
   4. Stated very simply: God's goal is to make us spiritual people in Christ.

2. The "us" problem: we are all very different.
   1. There are likely no two persons in this gathering who agree 100% on everything.
      1. There are likely no two persons in this gathering who are in 100% spiritual agreement.
      2. While all of us would find some who would agree with many of our general principals, each of us would be hard pressed to find one person who would agree with all of our personal applications of those principles.
      3. One of the hardest lessons to learn as a Christian is this: "every Christian is not exactly like me, and this congregation would not be a healthy congregation if every Christian was exactly like me."
   2. One huge problem that causes endless struggle and often hurt among us is this: we simply do not learn alike.
      1. Some of us learn by the lecture method, and we are going to go to classes that have an authority figure who is in charge of the class.
      2. Some of us learn by the discussion method, and we are going to class where everyone says what is on his or her mind.
      3. Some of us learn by the interaction method, and we love being a part of a small group in which all of us study, all of us share, and no one is intimidated.
      4. Some of us learn by the mentoring method; we seek guidance from someone who has "been there, done that, and used faith in Christ to cope with the problem."
   3. So which is the best method to learn? None of them and all of them.
      1. There is no "best method"; if we are not careful, methods have more to do with our goals than with God's goal.
      2. God's goal is for us to be recreated in Christ and become a spiritual person who is committed to righteousness and holiness.
         1. If the way you learn and understand best is by the lecture method, God does not care.
         2. If the way you learn and understand best is by the discussion method, God does not care.
         3. If the way you learn and understand best is by the interaction method, God does not care.
         4. If the way you learn and understand best is by the mentoring method, God does not care.
      3. God wants each of us to be recreated in Christ, dedicated to being God's righteous, holy person--that is what God wants!
         1. The method we use to let God change us in Christ is not what is important to God!
         2. It is not "how we got there;" it is being the godly man or woman in Christ that God wants us to be!

3. Mark records a fascinating interaction between Jesus and one of his three closest disciples [John] in Mark 9:38-42.
   John said to Him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is for us. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea."
   1. In the New Testament, there is much more condemnation about causing division than there is about keeping forms.
   2. God invested hundreds of years in creating the Old Testament nation of Israel in order to send Jesus, and when that nation failed God, He did not give up.
      1. God sent many prophets to His people because His people loved evil, but God did not give up.
      2. God exiled His people into a harsh captivity, but God did not give up.
      3. God send Jesus, and God's people rejected Jesus, but God did not give up.
      4. God allowed His son to be killed cruelly, and God did not give up.
      5. God raised His son from the dead, and people laugh at the idea of resurrection, and God does not give up.
      6. Today, we too often define God's goal as something far less than allowing God to recreate us in Christ into people committed to a righteous, holy existence, and God still does not give up.
   3. Then, in human arrogance, we say to another Christian who has been baptized into Christ, "If you do not do things my way, God will give up on you!"
      1. Listen to a statement Paul made to the Christians in Rome in Romans 14:1-8:
         Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.

May we be only God's people who are concerned with God's goal, not our preferences. May the goal be to be spiritual, to be the recreated people of God dedicated to righteousness and holiness. And may we respect and encourage each other as we pursue that goal.