Unity for Divided People

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0:00It is great to see you all. My name is Joel, and I'm happy to be serving you all as pastor. It's great to see your faces. I hope you've had a great Christmas, that God has met you wherever you are, exactly where you need today. So it's December 28th, and by now you've probably watched a Christmas movie, or five or so. We've had a little run of Christmas movies like every night in a row for the past four nights. I started noticing this, probably because of the passage for today, but I started noticing how many Christmas movies have a common theme about relationships, and togetherness, and reconciliation.

0:47We watch the same movies year after year. You probably have your own list of movies that you just have to see every year. And it never gets old, at least to me, to see the Grinch come back to Whoville, or Charlie Brown and his friends finally appreciating him and them all singing together, or Buddy the Elf reconnecting with his dad, or Ebenezer Scrooge having dinner with Bob Cratchit and his family, Kevin McAllister reunited with his family, all of George Bailey's neighbors in his living room singing.

1:31That's what we want to see, isn't it? That's why we watch these things over and over. There's lots of funny scenes along the way, and really, really funny movies, enjoyable movies, but we want to keep watching until the end, because we want to see that moment at the end where there's togetherness and reconciliation and harmony between people, especially since life is way messier than a movie. It doesn't get wrapped up in two hours.

2:09Reconciliation evades us in this world, but the longing that we have in our hearts continues. We keep watching. Well, today, we need to pay attention to today's passage, because it gives us a promise of reconciliation that is way better, way more satisfying, more real than even your favorite Christmas movie. All of your Christmas movies combined cannot touch the power and the reality, the truth of today's passage, which is about reconciliation, about togetherness, about unity.

2:48We're finishing up our Advent series on Ezekiel 34 and 37 called God Said He Will. In this passage, God says he will bring together divided people. Now, that sounds like good news to me.

3:08These are promises we can rely on if we rely on the God who gave them to us. So if your hope is in him, if your hope is in Christ, then take hold of these promises with both hands. Hold on with white knuckles to these promises, because they're true. They come to you from the true God, who, if you are in Christ, he saved you. These promises are for you. Hold on to them and look forward in faith and hope to his fulfillment of them. So let's go to them as people who are eagerly looking forward to the fulfillment of everything that God has promised.

3:52He spoke to us truly in his word, and his word comes to us today from Ezekiel 37. People, let's pay attention. Let's hear the word of the Lord together on bended knee. Starting in verse 15.

4:40And when your people say to you, will you not tell us what you mean by these? Say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph that is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will join it with the stick of Judah and make them one stick that they may be one in my hand. When the sticks on which you write are in your hands before their eyes, then say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and I will gather them from all around and bring them to their own land.

5:20And I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them all, and they shall know they shall be no longer two nations, no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned and will cleanse them. They shall be my people, and I will be their God.

5:54My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them, shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will set them in their land and multiply them and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore.

6:30My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore. Pray with me.

6:51Lord God, illuminate our hearts, open our ears to receive your word today, these promises for us. Be glorified, Lord, as we not just hear and understand, but we begin to rest in these truths moments today with how we live and how we follow you. Lord, show us the hope that we have in Christ for reconciliation. We long for it, Lord. Help us bring those longings to you today. In Jesus, our Savior's name, amen.

7:27So, if I can remember, the first one, what did God say he will do? Yeah, peace for a fractured flock, that was the second one. Rescue for scattered sheep, peace for a factuous flock. You put these things online, Shannon, so you, oh, oh, life for dry bones. Life for dry bones last week. And then this week, unity for divided people. I really ought to write this stuff down. I have no excuse. Oh, you're used to that. There you go, John. Thank you. So, God said he will, last one, unity for divided people.

8:19In Christ, we are reconciled with God and with each other. So, just before this passage, Ezekiel had this dramatic vision where he was transported converted in his mind to a valley where he participated in this vision of dry bones coming to life through the power of God, right? Well, here God tells him to prophesy through action to perform a sign. Ezekiel's like, oh, great. Are you going to make me lie down on the ground for 400 days again? And God says, no, no, no.

8:49It's not that big. It's real small. Well, it's a very small thing that he has Ezekiel do, but it's got a big meaning attached to it. In 1987, Ronald Reagan gave a speech in Berlin, and he ended addressing the president of Russia. He said, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. For those who don't know, he's talking about the Berlin Wall. Tearing down the wall wouldn't actually change any laws, but it would be a bold, dramatic sign pointing towards reunification for Israel.

9:27That's coming in this passage. Reunification for Germany. Tearing down the Berlin Wall would be a huge sign that he was calling him to do. God says to Ezekiel, Ezekiel, tie together these sticks. Not as impressive as tearing down the Berlin Wall. I bet he felt pretty silly tying together two sticks in front of a bunch of people who were watching. But it points to a reunification that is way bigger than East and West Germany coming together. This is a sign of God's promise to make one people.

10:04We're going to start with this. Now, this is a lot going on in this passage. To sort through this passage and prepare it for you all today on a vacation week, it was a challenge. The Lord is my strength and my help, and we're going to put it in his hands to bring you some deep truths today that are very encouraging and real. But it's a big passage. So one people, anyone here ever fight with your siblings? Kids, raise your hand. Ever fight with your siblings?

10:39That's Israel's history multiplied exponentially. The 12 tribes of Israel came from 12 sons of Israel, whose original name was Jacob. Like a lot of brothers, they argued, they fought, they formed alliances, little alliances against other groups, there was 12 of them. They could do things like that. As the brothers did, so did the tribes. Because when these brothers ended up becoming tribes, and they multiplied and multiplied and multiplied, they fought.

11:18They fought a lot. You see it already after the Exodus, but the inter-tribal tension erupts into open conflict during the time of the judges. The tribe of Benjamin is nearly wiped out with warfare from other tribes. Nearly wiped out. They almost lost a tribe because of warfare between the tribes. Having a king didn't fix things. When Saul came along, some of the tribes went after him. Yay, Saul, we like this guy. Other tribes were like, nah, we don't want anything to do with him.

11:52The same thing happened with David at first. Some tribes liked him. Other tribes didn't. Having a king did not unify them. Eventually, there is a fragile unity under King David. And then Solomon. But then right after Solomon, it falls apart. And it gets worse than it ever has. Solomon's son, Rehoboam, foolishly tries to make the people's forced labor even worse. To make himself look big and strong.

12:24And the ten northern tribes wholesale reject Solomon's son and say, this is not our king. You ever heard the phrase, not my president? That was the ten tribes. They said, not my king. Rehoboam, he's not my king. We're going to go with Jeroboam. At that point, the nation was divided in two. You had the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom was ten tribes. The southern was two. And it was a divided kingdom from that point forward.

12:54And that's when the relationship got really bad. We think America has a dysfunctional relationship between north and south. Well, that's nothing compared to the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. There are several wars between them. Each one of them has its own line of kings. It is a mess. It's a mess. Read your Old Testament and you can see the mess that it is. They are not getting along. At points, they hate each other. In 722 BC, the northern kingdom comes to an end.

13:31They're conquered by the Assyrians. The Assyrians come in. They deport them. The northern kingdom. Deported. Into the Assyrian kingdom. This is 150 years before Ezekiel. There is no northern kingdom when Ezekiel is prophesying. It's gone. They've been assimilated. Absorbed into the Assyrian empire. Now, I'm trying to build this up to help you see how shocking this is. For Ezekiel to be saying to these people, Look, God told me just like these two sticks, I just bound them together before your eyes.

14:07God is going to take the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom and reunite them. Yeah, you heard me right. The northern kingdom. The ones that have been gone for 150 years? Those people. They'll be all brought back together. And we will be one again. They shall no longer be two nations. No longer divided into two kingdoms. I don't think I can say enough to make you understand how shocking this would be. Way more shocking for Ronald Reagan to say, to address President Gorbachev and say, Tear down this wall.

14:42This is completely shocking. They didn't even think about this, much less hope for it. To bring them back and to bring them together seemed outlandish. It seemed ridiculous. What are you talking about, Ezekiel? There is no northern kingdom. It's not even there. What are you talking about there should no longer be two nations? I only see one nation. And by this time, the southern kingdom has now been exiled as well. The two kingdoms are long in the rearview mirror.

15:16But Ezekiel is saying, it's going to happen. God tells me that they're going to be back together again. If it wasn't God talking, they might have laughed. Now listen, here's the point for us. Because I think we all know, probably, other Christians with whom we think reconciliation is next to impossible.

15:40We think the relationship is, there's too much water under that bridge. There's too much damage that's been done. There's no way that relationship can be restored. I know I'm a believer. She's a believer. He's a believer. But it's not possible. I'm not even thinking about reconciliation. There are tribes in the wider church, frankly. And I'm not talking about denominations. Even within denominations, there are tribes. This group doesn't like that group.

16:15This group is suspicious of that group. People who don't get along, who don't fellowship. Oh, you're one of those people that believes this. We all struggle with a lack of reconciliation in our lives and that there are points in which we have given up. We need to listen to God.

16:38Because God has the power to reconcile relationships that have long since broken and long since fractured. Where we don't see a way with our own eyes. God says, I'm going to make it happen. I will reconcile my people together.

16:57Now, because there's so much going on here, I want to give you a little glimpse of the beginning of the fulfillment of this prophecy. Because I know how outlandish it is. For the people that you're thinking of right now, the groups that you're thinking of, that you think, I don't see how reconciliation is possible. Let me see. Let me show you how this prophecy began to be fulfilled. Okay? We're going to fast forward 600 years to the book of Acts, chapter 2.

17:29There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. Okay. I didn't put it up there because it's long, but right after this is a list of nations and places that the Jews have traveled to Jerusalem from. It's about 13 places long. They have traveled from all across the Roman Empire for the Feast of Weeks. The passage lists over 13 regions. Everywhere that the Jewish people were known to be living within the Roman Kingdom.

18:01They've come from all over. They've come back to Jerusalem. And why have they come back to Jerusalem? They've come for the Feast of Weeks. But what happens while they're there? This time is special. Because all of these Jews from all over the nation, they hear men of Galilee who had been with Jesus of Nazareth suddenly speaking in all kinds of languages.

18:29These Jews from all over the world say this, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. Next they hear Peter preaching to them. Explaining that this, what they're seeing is the pouring out of the Spirit. prophet, prophesied by the prophet Joel. That these mighty works of God that they're seeing are all connected to Jesus. The one who was crucified. The one who rose. And 3,000 Jews from across the Roman Empire put their faith in Jesus on that day.

19:11Isn't that amazing? Jews who had been scattered all across the empire have now been brought together and have been knit together in Christ Jesus, their Lord. The beginning of the fulfillment of this prophecy from Ezekiel.

19:31Now let's skip back to Ezekiel. Look at verse 28. God says that after the reunion, the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel. The nations will know. They'll be looking at this reunification and the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel. Gentiles behold God's saving power and they're drawn in. Do you know what happens right after this passage in Acts? Right after Pentecost? What happens? The gospel goes out from Jerusalem.

20:06Gentiles see the power of God bringing people together and the Gentiles are drawn in just like Ezekiel prophesied and predicted. The nations see and the nations are drawn in. The Gentiles hear the good news of salvation, of faith in Jesus, and they're drawn in like a moth to a light. They too know that God is the Lord. They too belong to Christ. Christ along with all of those Jews who came in from all across the Roman Empire and put their faith in Jesus.

20:40God has begun the unifying work. Paul says this in Galatians 3, there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

21:09I've connected Acts 2 with Ezekiel here to help you see that God keeps His Word. God keeps His Word to make His people one. The people hearing Ezekiel could hardly believe what he had said. It seemed impossible. But impossible is God's specialty. That's what God does best. The same God who will reconnect dry bones and restore life will reconnect estranged people and restore relationships. Brothers and sisters, always, always, always be open to reconciliation with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

22:04Always. Don't ever shut that door. Because God's intent is to make us one. To make us one in Christ Jesus. He has already begun to do it. Look at all of the different people in this room. All the different nations that we represent. Even if you don't know exactly your nationality anymore. You've come from somewhere. Look at what God is doing. He is bringing these sticks together and then He takes those two sticks and He grafts in wild olive shoots into the tree of life.

22:49He is doing the work. Don't give up hope. Christian, don't cancel people. Don't cancel your brothers and sisters in Christ. Even if you have disagreements about how to practice faith. If they pledge allegiance to their God and to Christ, if they say Christ is my King and I'm following Him, you can find a way to have a conversation.

23:16Maybe they need to be corrected on something. Maybe you do. Seek the conversation. Seek the reconciliation. That's God's intent. Don't give up hope. Our God will make all His people one. That is God's plan. That is God's promise. Now, one people are going to be in one dwelling place. That's the other part of this Ezekiel passage. God will make His people one and they will live together.

23:53This reunification erases borders between north and south. God brings the people together to their own land. I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel. Israel. We have a video a long time ago of Nikki and I giving the girls this announcement. They probably were like, I don't know, four and six, something like that, maybe five and seven. But we had them go into a room and we told them, you're going to be sharing a room now.

24:28We're going to put you together. And you should see that it's like it was Christmas Day. I kid you not. They are like jumping up and down together, doing the jump hug thing. Yay, yay, yay. We can do this and we can put this here. And they are so excited about being together in the same room.

24:51That video came to mind about five years later when we gave them a different announcement. you're going to be in your own separate rooms now. And there was nearly as much joy about that announcement as there was the first time.

25:11You have to have a pretty close, good relationship. There has to be a deep work in you to be told you're going to be living with someone and it's good news, right?

25:25For a long time, northern and southern kingdoms were happy to be apart. You go over there. I'll stay over here. Fine, I didn't want to be with you anyway. Fine. Okay, I'll see you later. Okay, or maybe not. They were happy to be apart. They didn't want to be together. They didn't even want the same king. The divided kingdom, it had consequences and one of those was that there were divided places to worship. God had told his people to offer sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem, but that was in the southern kingdom.

26:02Jeroboam, the first king of the northern nation, he worried that if people from his kingdom from the north would go down to the south three times a year for the feasts at the temple, he was worried that it would stir up affection for the south and that they would want to reunite. So he said, no, no, don't go down there. I'm going to set up nearby places to worship up here so that you don't have to go down there. This persisted for the entire divided kingdom.

26:30There were worship places in the north, worship places in the south. But now God is going to undo all of this. They shall dwell in the land that I gave my servant Jacob, all of them together. And God will be there too. But not as a referee. He's not keeping the peace. God will be there and he will resolve the dilemma of different worship places. He says, I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place shall be with them. Now, to help you see how this is fulfilled, I'm going to fast forward again.

27:09This time we're going to fast forward to John 4. Jesus is in Samaria talking to a woman at a well. The Samaritans traced their lineage back to the exiles from the northern kingdom. And like their ancestors, they set up other worship sites. The Jewish people considered this to be a big no-no. The woman brings this up with Jesus. It's a bit of a diversion tactic, but Jesus uses it.

27:40She says, our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. You see what she's doing? Hey Jesus, what do you think about this controversy? Where should we worship?

27:54Listen to what Jesus says. Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. In other words, it's no longer about where you come to God, but how you come to God. And Jesus said, no one comes to the Father except through me.

28:23God makes His dwelling place with us by sending us His Son. That was the beginning of Him fulfilling Ezekiel 37. Jesus said He's the temple. He said, if you destroy this temple, I'll rebuild it again in three days. He's talking about the temple of His body. And when we are joined to Him by faith, we too become the temple. For we are the temple of the living God, Corinthians says. As God says, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them and will be their God and they shall be my people.

29:00Luke, keep that up for just a second. Look at this verse and look at verse 27 of Ezekiel 37. Look at how similar those two verses are. I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them and be their God and they shall be my people. Do you see how closely connected these two things are? For this to happen, so God is going to make His dwelling place with us. Jesus is that dwelling place. We are united to Him and we become part of that dwelling place with Him, the temple of the living God.

29:37But for this to happen, we have to be not just one people, we have to be holy people. We have to be separated from everything that defiles us. We have to be cleansed from our sin. And wouldn't you know it, Ezekiel talks about that too. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols or their detestable things or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned and will cleanse them and any other backsliders here feel like that's good news?

30:09Save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned and will cleanse them. They shall walk in My rules and be careful to obey My statutes. For God to dwell with us, He must do this cleansing work in us and He does it by the Spirit which He pours out into our hearts when we believe in Jesus. You were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. You see, the promise of the dwelling place is way more than a nice plot of land with a vineyard and a nice view.

30:44It's way bigger than that. It's the promise of fellowship. First of all, with God. And then right along with that, fellowship and communion with each other. Because everything that makes us argue, everything that makes us fight, everything that makes us envy, jealous, it's all gone. Because He has cleansed us completely. This is why they can dwell together in the Lord. And they love it.

31:19True communion with God and each other by the cleansing of the Spirit. Now you can see why I said there's a lot in this passage. God's dwelling place on the earth, His sanctuary, Him being with us. Jesus coming, dwelling with us, saying that He's the temple. Us being declared the temple when we join up with Him. This is all bundled together in Ezekiel here. So listen, here's how you can put this promise into practice now in your life. Pursue holiness.

31:52Don't tolerate sin in your life. Don't abide it. You and I are going to continue to struggle and sin until we die or Jesus returns, whichever comes first. But that doesn't mean we should be complacent. Sin defiles us. The word idols that Ezekiel uses in this passage, he uses this Hebrew word for idols throughout his book. It's really, I can't even say it. Common decency forbids me to say it. It's a slang word for human excrement.

32:31Evidently, the prophets felt like they could be more colorful with the people than I feel like I can be at least. Sin defiles us. But pursuing holiness prepares you for reconciliation. We should look, listen, don't see the sin in your life and be like, I know I shouldn't really have that. But don't you think it's kind of pretty? No.

33:00It is crap and it stinks like crap. Don't be like, well, look, I'll just kind of put it in the closet over here. I'll hide it. No. Flush it down the toilet. Get it out of your life.

33:19When I'm not repenting of sin in my life, I don't get along with other people well. Anybody ever experience that? It's funny, isn't it? The sin might not have anything to do with them. But if I am holding on to and refusing to repent of a sin in my life, I'm edgy, I'm irritable, I pull away.

33:42But when I'm listening to the Spirit, when I'm humble and repenting, I'm much more engaged in building up relationships with my brothers and sisters. This is why, look at Ephesians 2.22. This is the end point of Ezekiel's prophecy. In Him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Didn't God promise a dwelling place in Ezekiel? That's you. That's us, is what I should say. That's us when we're joined together. So pursue holiness.

34:23Our personal holiness matters for our participation in God's work of reconciliation. One people who are being built together into one dwelling place, they don't govern themselves. They have one leader.

34:43I'm going to close with this shorter section here. Dwelling together, it's not a commune. It's a kingdom. And a kingdom has a king. One king shall be over them all. Sometimes I've gotten in trouble at Christmas for getting myself something that Nikki was already planning to give me. It's true. It's happened more than once. I didn't think she knew what I wanted, what I needed, and so I went and tried to get it myself. Way back when the people felt like they needed a king and they asked God for a king.

35:21They felt insecure. They felt vulnerable. They didn't believe God knew what they needed, but God was already planning to give them a wonderful, perfect king. They had to trust Him. All the people who heard about Jesus' birth knew that the great king was coming. Mary knew. Joseph knew. The wise men knew. Even Herod knew. Some resisted. Others rejoiced and went looking for Him. It all depended on whether they wanted to keep hold of their power and control or whether they believed God's Word that He would send a righteous and a just ruler and that He was the one that had their good in mind.

36:06What about you, friends? Can you rejoice in this king coming and say, I am ready to let go of power and control. Show me, Spirit, how to do it even more and come under your lordship, the kingship of Christ. But this king is also your shepherd.

36:30He's born a child and yet a king. He's from the lineage of David. And Ezekiel said, My servant David shall be king over them and they shall have one shepherd. This king is also a shepherd and he does whatever it takes to care for the sheep. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And that's what he did. Name me another leader like this. So much power. So much glory. And goes to this extent of personal sacrifice for his people. This leader, this ruler, this shepherd king resides and presides over a people and a kingdom that lasts forever.

37:11Five times in this passage we see synonyms. Forever. Everlasting. Forevermore. Usually we use forever in a negative way like this movie, this road trip, this sermon is taking forever. But here, it's not a complaint. It's the best thing imaginable for it to last forever. Because this is a reconciliation that lasts forever. It's a dwelling place that's forevermore. It's a covenant of peace that's everlasting.

37:47The scriptures say that God reconciled us with God through his very blood. That reconciliation is the beginning of the reconciliation of all of God's people. So hold on to the desires you have for harmony. Hold on to the longings and the hope you have for estrangement to be overcome. Keep watching Christmas movies and yet tear up when you see the happy ending but bring your hopes and your longings to your shepherd. Bring them to the one that made these promises because all the promises of God find their yes and their amen in Christ.

38:30Do you want to to take care of our people for it?