Paul

1
Pauls letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2  11
Dont forget that you Gentiles used to be
outsiders. You were called uncircumcised
heathens by the Jews, who were proud of their
circumcision, even though it affected only their
bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you
were living apart from Christ. You were excluded
from citizenship among the people of Israel, and
you did not know the covenant promises God had
made to them. You lived in this world without God
and without hope. 13 But now you have been united
with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from
God, but now you have been brought near to him
through the blood of Christ.
2
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He
united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in
his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall
of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by
ending the system of law with its commandments
and regulations. He made peace between Jews and
Gentiles by creating in himself one new people
from the two groups. 16 Together as one body,
Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of
his death on the cross, and our hostility toward
each other was put to death. 17 He God brought
this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were
far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were
near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father
through the same Holy Spirit because of what
Christ has done for us. New Living Translation
3

• The Passion of Christ
• Ephesians chapter 2 verses 11-18
• Greek word pascho means suffering
• Term used for the events and suffering of Jesus
• physical, mental and spiritual
• in the hours before and including his trial and
  execution by crucifixion.
• In the four Gospels - Passion Narratives
• Music of J.S. Bach St Matthews St Johns
  Passion

4

• The passion or suffering of Jesus included
• Betrayal
• Desertion
• Injustice
• Political manoeuvring
• Extreme cruelty
• Innocent voluntary sacrifice
• Achieving Gods purpose

5

• Are not our own sins in the story of the passion?
•  
• Have you ever betrayed or denied Jesus? Denied
  that youve known him when to do so was
  uncomfortable?
• Failed to speak up for him or declared yourself
  as his follower, when it may have been unpopular?
• Have you ever behaved unjustly, treated people
  unfairly, betrayed a friend, taken advantage of
  others, used your position to control others?
• Have you ever been cruel to others, deliberately
  hurt them to seek pay-back or to teach them a
  lesson?
• Have you been unwilling to make a sacrifice for
  the benefit of others?

6

• 1st Corinthians 15 v 3
• I passed on to you what was most important and
  what had also been passed on to me. Christ died
  for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.
• Romans 3 v 22-25
• 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for
  sin. People are made right with God when they
  believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding
  his blood.
• John 2 v 29
• The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and
  said, Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the
  sin of the world!
• 1st Peter 3 v 18
• Christ suffered died for our sins once for all
  time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to
  bring you safely home to God.

7

• Colossians 1 v 19-22
• For God in all his fullness was pleased to live
  in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled
  everything to himself. He made peace with
  everything in heaven and on earth by means of
  Christs blood on the cross.
• 21 This includes you who were once far away from
  God. You were his enemies, separated from him by
  your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has
  reconciled you to himself through the death of
  Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has
  brought you into his own presence, and you are
  holy and blameless as you stand before him
  without a single fault.

8

• Once, in a beautiful garden, grew a gracious
  bamboo which enjoyed his Masters love and favour
  far beyond any other plant. One day his Master
  drew near and said, Bamboo, I would use you.
• Master I am ready, use me as you will.
• Bamboo, I will have to cut you down. Ah, not
  that Master, use me for joy but dont cut me
  down. If I dont cut you down, I cant use
  you. Master, if you cant use me unless you
  cut me down.... then....cut. So the Master took
  Bamboo, cut him down, hacked off his branches,
  stripped off his leaves, cut him in half and cut
  out his heart. He then carried him to a spring
  in the midst of the fields....The waters raced
  down the channel of Bamboos torn body into the
  waiting fields. The rice was planted, the shoots
  grew, the harvest came. In that day was Bamboo,
  once so glorious in his stately beauty, yet more
  glorious in his brokenness and humility. For in
  his beauty he was life abundant but in his
  brokenness he became a channel of abundant life
  to his Masters world.