MADE NEW: Breaking Barriers

Devotional

Day 1: Crumbling Walls: From Hostility to Shared Table

The Berlin Wall stood for division, but Christ’s cross shattered more than concrete. Just as that wall’s fall reunited families, Jesus tears down invisible walls of prejudice, politics, and pain between people. His blood doesn’t just fix our vertical relationship with God—it heals horizontal fractures between enemies. The early church’s radical inclusivity, welcoming slaves and masters alike, models this miracle. What walls still stand in your heart? [28:03]

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace.” (Ephesians 2:14–15, NIV)

Reflection: What invisible wall—pride toward someone’s background, bitterness over past hurt, or judgment about differences—have you been quietly maintaining? How might Ephesians 2 challenge you to let Christ’s demolition crew work?

Day 2: Open Hearts in Hostile Conversations

Like couples choosing vulnerability during conflict, we decide daily whether to armor our hearts or risk connection. Closed hearts calcify divisions—whether in marriages, friendships, or church aisles. Yet the same willpower that builds emotional walls can dismantle them. Christ’s peace isn’t passive; it’s the active choice to lean into awkward conversations, listen before reacting, and see God’s image in the “other.” [29:33]

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there… First go and be reconciled to them.” (Matthew 5:23–24, NIV)

Reflection: Where are you rehearsing arguments instead of seeking understanding? What one conversation requires you to open your heart rather than defend your position?

Day 3: Bricks Mortared by Grace

Temples aren’t built with identical stones. Rough-hewn Gentiles and polished Jews—once enemies—become interlocking bricks in God’s living temple. Your quirks and scars aren’t flaws here; they’re design features locking you into others’ lives. When the world divides over politics or preferences, the church thrives through mismatched saints bound by grace. Unity isn’t uniformity—it’s the mortar of Christ’s blood holding different stories together. [47:07]

“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.” (Ephesians 2:21–22, NIV)

Reflection: Which “different” person in your church family most challenges your preferences? How might their unique shape complete part of God’s design you can’t fill alone?

Day 4: No Second-Class Citizens in God’s Kingdom

The “untouchables” found dignity when missionaries traded privilege for proximity. Like Paul demolishing Jewish-Gentile hierarchies, we confront modern caste systems—economic, racial, or relational. In God’s kingdom, janitors and CEOs share the same inheritance. Sunday mornings often reflect society’s segregation, but Christ’s cross declares: no back rows, no secondary status. Your seat at the table isn’t earned—it’s bought with blood. [45:43]

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.” (Ephesians 2:19, NIV)

Reflection: Who feels like a “foreigner” in your circles? What practical step could take them from stranger to fellow citizen this week?

Day 5: Pickleball Slams and Family Bonds

Peter’s paddle slams revealed more than skill—they unveiled family. Casual games became holy ground when a pastor and Chinese believers collided in laughter. Church isn’t a event to attend but people to belong to—whether sharing communion or chasing pickleballs. The gospel turns “those people” into siblings worth rearranging schedules for. Unity isn’t a sermon topic—it’s the joy of needing others’ weirdness to feel whole. [56:49]

“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” (1 John 4:20, NIV)

Reflection: Whose presence—though different from you—makes you unexpectedly grateful to be part of God’s family? How could you deepen that unlikely friendship?

Sermon Summary

Paul tells the Ephesians to remember who they were, not so they can live in shame, but so they never lose the awe of what Christ has done. The Gentiles were once separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, strangers to the covenants, without hope, and without God in the world. The text paints a bleak picture, but Paul’s word “remember” matters because that old identity is no longer true. The people who were far away have now been brought near.

Christ himself is the peace. Paul does not say Jesus merely offers peace or gives a peaceful feeling. Christ is peace in his own person, and by his blood he has destroyed the dividing wall of hostility. The temple wall that warned Gentiles to stay out under threat of death becomes the picture of every barrier sin builds between people. The cross does not only run vertical, reconciling sinners to God. The cross also runs horizontal, reconciling enemies to each other.

Paul shows that Jesus fulfilled the law and set aside the commands and regulations as a dividing badge between Jews and Gentiles. Christ made one new humanity out of the two. The gospel does not call people merely to tolerate each other, smile politely, and keep their distance. The gospel makes former outsiders into one new people, a multicolored family that looks a little more like heaven every week.

The church is then described with three powerful images. The church is a kingdom, where nobody is second class. The church is a family, where believers share the same Father, the same Spirit, and ought to share the same table. The church is a temple, not a building people attend, but a people God is building together, like bricks mortared into one dwelling place for his Spirit.

The text presses the church to ask where walls are being rebuilt after Jesus already tore them down. Cultural walls, racial walls, political walls, and relational walls can quietly rise again in the heart. The gospel calls Christ’s people to be wall breakers, not wall builders. God’s love changes relationships when hearts stay open, defensiveness gets confessed, and the church stops acting like a place to attend and starts living like a family to belong to.

Key Takeaways

1. Remember the old distance honestly Paul calls the Gentiles to remember their former separation so grace does not become ordinary. The old condition was not mild inconvenience, but life “without hope and without God in the world.” Honest memory does not drag the believer backward; it magnifies the mercy that brought the far away near. [35:39]
2. Christ himself is peace Paul’s claim is stronger than saying Jesus gives peace in hard moments. Christ is the peace that stands between former enemies and makes hostility lose its legal and spiritual power. The blood of Christ does not decorate division with religious language; it destroys the wall that kept people apart. [36:34]
3. The cross also runs horizontal The cross bridges the gap between a perfect God and sinful people, but Paul also shows its horizontal beam. Christ reconciles imperfect people to other imperfect people, even people who have sinned against each other. A faith that wants vertical reconciliation while keeping horizontal hostility has not followed the full shape of the cross. [42:44]
4. No second class kingdom citizens Paul’s image of citizenship means nobody stands at the edge of God’s kingdom as an tolerated outsider. The gospel creates a new people where class, status, ethnicity, and background cannot decide who matters most. The kingdom of God exposes every “untouchable” category as a lie against grace. [45:22]
5. The church is a family Paul does not leave the church as a building, event, or crowd. The church becomes God’s household, where believers are known, needed, and joined together for the good of one another. Treating the church as family changes attendance from religious habit into shared life under the same Father.

** [53:39]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[23:26] - Happy Father’s Day and Strong Fathers
[24:46] - Thursday Church Announcement
[27:41] - Made New in Ephesians 2
[28:03] - Walls That Divide People
[28:54] - Opening the Heart to God’s Word
[33:49] - Gentiles Once Far Away
[36:16] - Brought Near by Christ’s Blood
[36:54] - The Dividing Wall of Hostility
[40:34] - One New Humanity in Christ
[42:12] - The Cross Runs Horizontal
[45:22] - Kingdom, Family, and Temple
[48:38] - Saved Into the Church
[49:25] - Wall Breakers, Not Wall Builders
[53:39] - Living as God’s Household
[59:42] - Invitation to Reconciliation

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Ephesians 2:11–22 (ESV)
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh... In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Observation questions

According to Ephesians 2:12, what five descriptions are used to explain the Gentiles’ former spiritual condition?
What does Paul mean when he says Christ “is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14), and how does this differ from simply offering peace?
What three images does Paul use to describe the church in Ephesians 2:19–22?
The sermon referenced a historical temple wall with a warning inscription. What was the consequence for Gentiles who crossed it? [40:05]

Interpretation questions

Why does Paul emphasize remembering the Gentiles’ past separation (Ephesians 2:11–12)? How might this practice guard against taking grace for granted?
The sermon described the cross as having both vertical and horizontal dimensions. How does Christ’s work on the cross address both our relationship with God and with others? [42:44]
Paul says the church is “God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19). What does this metaphor imply about how believers should treat one another compared to superficial interactions?
The temple wall symbolized hostility, but Christ destroyed it. What modern “walls” might still exist in the church today that contradict this truth? [49:25]

Application questions

Where are you unintentionally rebuilding walls (cultural, political, relational) that Christ already tore down? What practical step could you take this week to dismantle one of those barriers? [50:02]
The church is described as a family, not just a building. How could you shift from treating church as an event to attend, to actively engaging as a member of a household? [53:39]
Is there someone in your life—inside or outside the church—with whom you harbor quiet hostility or distance? What would it look like to take one step toward reconciliation this week? [52:14]
The sermon challenged believers to “be wall breakers, not wall builders.” What is one way you can intentionally connect with someone different from you (ethnically, politically, or socially) to reflect Christ’s unifying work? [49:25]
How does remembering your own past separation from God (Ephesians 2:12) change the way you view others who still feel “far off”? What might it look like to extend Christ’s nearness to them? [35:39]

Sermon Clips

51s

“``So again, there wasn't just a barrier that kept people at a distance from God, there was a barrier that kept people at a distance from each other. And just like Jesus destroyed the barrier between God and people, what did he do to the barrier between people and other people? He destroyed that one too. So Paul is saying, listen, this is cool, that the power of the cross is actually greater than we usually think. The beams of the cross not only run vertical and have the power to bridge the gap between a perfect God and imperfect people who have sinned against him. The beams of the cross also run horizontal, and that means the cross also has the power to bridge the gap between imperfect people and other imperfect people, right? And we all are.”

89s

“``verse 15 goes on to say that he broke down the dividing wall of hostility by setting aside in his flesh the law with his commands and regulations. So Jesus actually fulfilled the law, and in doing so, he created what? One, listen, new humanity out of the two, peace between enemies, reconciliation both vertically to God and horizontally to each other. Verse 17 says, he came and preached peace. Verse 18 says, for through him we both have access to the father by one spirit. here's what this means, friends, today. Through Christ, we don't just tolerate each other. We become one new people. The church is not a social club. It's not an ethnic enclave. It's the multi colored family of God, amen? Right. Amen. And you heard me say many times, at Compass, we're trying to look a little more like heaven every single week. Yeah. And that's for your good because you don't wanna get there and be like, what? Everybody's not like me here? No, friend. Because the dividing wall of hostility has been broken down and every tribe, nation, people, and language will be standing around the throne of God one day.”

64s

“``So friends, listen, you're not just saved from something, you're saved into something. You are part of a church. You belong. So I would say, Compass family, tear down the walls. Right? Tear down the walls because the church is a miracle of grace. Paul says, you were once far away, but now now you are near. You were once enemies, but now you're a family. You were you were once divided, but now you're united. But here's the challenge. Even though Jesus tore down the wall, we sometimes start building them back up, don't we? Can we be honest and say that we do that? Cultural walls, racial walls, political walls, relational walls, but the gospel calls us to be wall breakers, not wall builders.”

56s

“``It costs a lot to bring you near. And then Paul makes a radical claim. Verse 14, he himself is our peace. So Jesus doesn't just offer peace to you, he is peace. And what does he do? Verse 14, this is where we're gonna camp out, breaks down the dividing wall of hostility. Now friends, this is likely a reference to a literal wall in the temple that kept the Gentiles out. Spiritually though, it refers to the separation between Jews and Gentiles, insiders and outsiders. The Jews are the ones that God made promises to. They had the scriptures, they had the patriarchs, they had the blessing and the favor of God on their lives, and there was great animosity between them and anybody else who was not like them.”

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