Have you ever been on the outs with someone? – Advent Peace, Part 1

It’s that time of year when Christmas cards come flooding in.  Have you been sending and receiving them?  Last year when my in-laws’ 2023 Christmas card came, I noticed something very interesting about the accompanying letter.  They gave an update about everyone in the family, except me and one of my brothers-in-law.  They named every single other person, including our other brother-in-law who lives in Portland.  But me and my brother-in-law?  Nothing.  I spent a whole month in India last year.  I think that’s kind of noteworthy.  No mention of it. 

Were we on the outs?  Were our in-laws upset at us?  Just forgetful?  I sent a text message to my brother-in-law immediately, “Did you see their Christmas letter?  Guess who is not included?”  We had to bring it up to our father-in-law, since he is always teasing us.  We said to make up for that slight, our Christmas presents better be really good.

So yesterday, when my in-laws’ 2024 Christmas card and letter arrived in the mail, I opened the card and out fell this year’s letter.  I skimmed through it, looking for my name.

Would you believe that for the second year in a row, there was no mention of either my brother-in-law or me in the letter?  This year neither of our wives were mentioned.  Are we on the outs?  No. Well…at least I don’t think so. We know our in-laws love us. They do not have to mention us in the Christmas letter. But situations like these can make you wonder.

Have you ever been on the outs? 

In this second week of Advent, we’re going study Ephesians 2:11–22, and we’re going to meet some people who are on the outs.

Ephesians is one of the letters that the great missionary apostle, Paul, wrote to a group of Christians in the ancient city of Ephesus while he was on house arrest in Rome. In Ephesians 2:1–10, Paul writes that in his mercy God saves us by his grace through our faith, not by our works, and yet we are created in Christ to do good works.  In verses 1 through 10 Paul teaches the doctrine of salvation. 

That brings us to verse 11.  In these verses, Paul will talk about the astounding affect salvation has not just in our personal lives, but also in the world around us.  A very common evangelical way of understanding salvation is that when individuals are saved, they now have hope of eternal life in heaven.  That’s not wrong.  But what Paul will talk about is how salvation is so much more expansive than just personal future salvation.  Paul will show us that what Jesus accomplished matters now.  How Jesus’ salvation matters has everything to do with peace.  But on his way to talking about peace, Paul says something that might sound strange when he introduces us to the group of people who were on the outs.

In verse 11, Paul writes, “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).”

There are some curious words in that verse.  The first curious word is Gentiles.  Paul is writing to Gentiles.  What is a Gentile?  A Gentile is a person who is not a Jew.  That ethnic distinction is a big deal pretty much throughout the entire Bible.  The Old Testament is the story of the Jews.  The New Testament is the story of the church, which is started by a Jew (Jesus) among Jews in Jerusalem.  God pushes those Jews to share the good news about Jesus first to non-Jews in Palestine (like the Samaritans), and eventually throughout the Roman Empire.  Paul was a Jew who was the leader in that missional movement, and many non-Jews, aka Gentiles, became Christians.   

So Paul is writing to Gentile Christians in the Greco-Roman city of Ephesus.  He had spent lots of time with them, which you can read about in the books of Acts chapters eighteen through twenty.  He was with them for more than two years.  He knows them.  He knows they are Gentiles.  He knows their heritage.  Notice, though, that Paul uses the word “formerly.”  Something about these non-Jews had changed.  Something was different.  They used to be on the outs. Did they become Jews? 

We find out in the next post.

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash