Jesus, The Slayer Of Hate, The Giver Of Peace

Ephesians 2:11-22 11/21/21 a.m.

Jesus, the SLAYER of HATRED the MAKER of PEACE

In this day and age SUPERHEROES are the BIG THING. I mean you have the X-MEN, Marvel Comics and all the rest.

Superman was the first well known superhero. He was in Action Comics #1 in June 1938. Since then there have been DOZENS of SUPERHEROES invented to ENTERTAIN us.

I was gonna tell you about a guy running down the road with a cape on so I yelled at him, “Hey are you SUPERMAN?” He answered, “Nah, I just didn’t pay for my haircut!!!”

Or how about this one, “What does a superhero do when they CLEAN? They fight GRIME!!!

But, as we all know, Superheroes aren’t real. Listen folks, I know it’s hard to take but Batman doesn’t really exist.

But there is ONE who isn’t make believe. He does EXIST. I hesitated to even talk about SUPERHEROES because too many times we try to COMPARE the things of this world with the things of God. But listen, what God did by sending His Son was extraordinary. What Jesus did as HE HUNG there on the OLD RUGGED CROSS is AMAZING. There really isn’t ANYTHING that can compare. But as my dad and I were reading this passage it just kind of grabbed ahold of me. And so this morning I want to talk about JESUS, the SLAYER of HATE, and the MAKER of PEACE. Let’s turn in our Bibles to Ephesians 2 and we’ll read Verses 11-22.

“Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

Verse 15 tells us that Jesus ABOLISHED in His flesh the ENMITY. And then in Verse 16 it tells us that He has SLAIN the ENMITY.

And ENMITY means- positive, active, and typically mutual HATRED or ILL WILL. Jesus has SLAIN HATRED. He has DESTROYED IT. And that same Jesus is DESTROYING the ENMITY that exists in the world today. Before we get into this message let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.

Brother ____, would you lead us?

I. First of all I think we need to understand what this ENMITY was. There was ENMITY between the Jews and the GENTILES. ENMITY sounds a lot like ENEMY and that makes a lot of sense. These words have a lot in common. An ENEMY is oftentimes, someone we HATE.

There has been strife among people since the AGE of TIME. Listen, from the very first family there has been ENMITY. God accepted the OFFERING of ABEL but REJECTED the OFFERING of CAIN. And so Cain killed his brother Abel because he was JEALOUS of him.

And from then on, there was ENMITY between him and all the other people in the world. In Genesis 4:15 God put a mark on Cain to give him PROTECTION from those who would take VENGEANCE against him for killing Abel.

There was ENMITY between Abraham and Lot. Their HERDSMEN couldn’t get along. So they had to split up.

Enmity between Joseph and his brothers.

Enmity between Moses and the Pharoh of Egypt.

Enmity between David and King Saul.

And the list goes on.

And now as Paul writes this letter to the people in the Church at Ephesus, there was ENMITY between those of the CIRCUMCISION and those of the UNCIRCUMCISION. ENMITY between the JEWS and the GENTILES. The JEWS called the GENTILES DOGS. They weren’t part of the ORIGINAL COVENANT. They were AFAR OFF as Paul tells us.