Eph 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition [between us];
Usually speaking In the O.T. when The bible mentions walls it is speaking of strength and protection. A city without walls was considered weak and vulnerable.
But the draw back to having these great walls to protect and keep the enemy out was they also trapped the city inhabitants and made them prisoners in their own city.
We have much the same thing today, but it is more on a spiritual level,
Too many of Gods people have erected walls to protect themselves from the enemy: but these walls are not natural they are spiritual, they are not built with hammer and nails and brick and mortar, but these walls have been built out of ideas, and traditions, and prejudices and fears. (The middle wall Jesus destroyed was the wall between Jew and Gentile).
walls not only keep our enemies out, but they also imprison us, and worst of all they keep us from reaching the very ones we are called and sent to.
Walls Separate, divide, limit, Isolate, Insulate,.
#1 They limit
(a)vision: the wall of We’ve never seen it done like that before, or that’s not the way we do it.
If we can’t see it we won’t believe it.
(b)expression: The wall of traditional services and thinking, Limits creativity.
(c) growth: Just as fish will grow in size in proportion to their limitations of their environment so will we as individuals and as a corporate body, grow or be limited in growth in proportion to the limitations of our thinking.
#2 Isolate: They keep people out, (When we want to be alone we put up a wall) when we don’t want to be bothered we put up walls. We Isolate ourselves, We can be in a crowd and be alone.
These walls may be invisible but they are real enough to separate us from everyone.
The problem is these walls Isolate us from the ones we are suppose to be getting close to, close enough to be salt in their lives = contact, communication.
#3 Insolate: Insulation is to hold in, We buy thermoses because they are insulated, they hold the heat in our coffee, or they hold the cold in our ice tea.
But the church was never intended to live in an insolated environment, we were never meant to be a private club, that simply holds on to and protects it’s elite membership.
The church is to be the gate of heaven, Through the Church men and women are to gain entrance to Jesus Christ.
We must not allow anything to block the entrance to the kingdom of heaven.
Mt 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Jesus said: *whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
*him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Anything that restricts whosoever will from getting to Jesus through the church, is a wall that must be torn down.
*We dare not put bars and restrictions where Jesus has placed an open door*
We build walls to protect ourselves, but when those walls keep us from reaching out to the drug addict, prostitute, homosexual, rich, poor, black, white, Hispanic, Then those walls are not protecting us they are killing us.
The dead sea is dead for one reason: It has no out let. Water comes in but does not go out. It stagnates, and becomes polluted, and nothing can live in it.
Rev 5:9-10 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
The redeeming work of Christ takes in every kindred tongue and nation
We Must not be guilty of allowing walls in the church to hinder the redeeming grace of Christ.
The bible is not the rich mans bible, the white mans bible, the red mans bible, or the educated mans bible, It’s for whosoever will.
If we do not Become a church without walls:
#1we will die, our walls will kill us.
#2 We will cease to exist as the lighthouse= the saving healing influence of our communities.
We want Our church to be recognized as a church without walls, This community needs to know that there is an open door to heaven in ashdown.
Our motto is the same as Jesus: Whosoever will let him come and take of the waters of life freely. “No More Walls”
Lastly: If we do not become a church without walls, we will become a pillar of salt.
A pillar of salt is what happens when salt is shut up to itself, It is what happens when the church loses it’s God given vision, purpose and passion.
Salt really is useless until it leaves the shaker.
Isa 60:18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.
The walls that God desires in the church today are the walls of salvation.
And the gates Praise.
Zec 2:4 And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:
Mr 2:15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.
Matt 11:19 (They called him) “ a friend of publicans and sinners”.
The main reason Jesus was hated by the religious order of his day was, he hated the walls that separated, and segregated the body of Christ and he destroyed them everywhere he found them.
Lets follow his example and do the same “No more Walls”
