Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Luke 2:13-14
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
Peace on earth. Goodwill toward men.
I really can’t think of a single message that the world is more ready to hear this time of year and this point in history, can you?
And it just so happens to be the title of the series we’ll be going through this month. So I can’t think of a better event than Sundays here where you can invite your friends and neighbors, can you? People are longing for real peace, and they’re ready to hear about it.
This past week reminded us that we might look like we’re at peace, but really we’re not.
Still it doesn’t take a terrorist threat to throw off your peace.
There’s a home somewhere where the Mom and Dad aren’t getting along. They’ve been threatening divorce, and neither of them really wants it, but they don’t know how to get the fighting to stop. Neither do their kids.
There’s a guy in high school. He’s feeling pretty harassed and pushed around by the worry of what everyone thinks of him. Meanwhile, he’s still trying to figure out what he thinks of himself.
There’s a man at a job he really doesn’t like. It’s stressing him out as the company puts more and more on him and expects him to just keep doing it.
There’s a single mom, trying to make the finances work out. She didn’t plan for her life to be this way, but it is.
There’s an elderly lady, living by herself. Her family doesn’t really keep track of her very well, and her retirement isn’t going to last. Life seems to have fewer reasons for her to have peace.
Today, in San Bernardino, CA, there’s a community of people in shock, some who are grieving. And because of what they face now, there’s a whole country of people, on edge, disagreeing about what to do.
And the bells are ringing “Peace on earth, goodwill to men.”
What - is that some kind of delusional escape? Some kind of head-in-the-sand idealism? I don’t think so. I’m no genius, but what message could be more desirable than peace on earth right now?
The whole Bible is a message about a wonderful plan for peace. That started in Genesis, and has yet to conclude. All along the way there are previews about the coming Peace. Sure enough, on the night that Jesus is born, the angels come and announce the good news of great joy which will be for all the people: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among men on whom His favor rests. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.
It’s in keeping with that great news that I want us to begin to consider a different part of the Bible for the Christmas season – one that’s after the fact of Jesus’ ministry on earth; one that looks back.
Ephesians 2:13-17
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
The mission of Jesus on earth was a mission of peace. Next week, we’ll see how it brings peace between Jesus and us. On Christmas Sunday, we’ll talk about the way it brings peace between us and God. Today, we’re seeing how Jesus brings us peace with each other.
I love the way God’s word has always applied to life! There have always been people struggling to get along with each other, and that was true for the Church from the day it started.
The good news about Jesus was first given to the Jewish people. They were looking for the Promised One of God, the Messiah, to arrive, and for the Jews to learn that Jesus was that Promised One made for a very natural and wonderful transition in their relationship with God. But many of the Jews didn’t see any room for non-Jews in God’s plan. Or, if there was room, it was as 2nd rate members.
Feelings between Jews and non-Jews have often been tense. That didn’t just start happening in the past 100 years! It was very much in play during the 1st century as Rome held the Jews under its thumb. There was no love lost from the Jews toward their oppressors.
From the Talmud – the official body of Jewish civil and religious law: A Jewish man must pray every morning, "Blessed be the Lord for not making me a gentile."
“the daughter of an Israelite may not assist a gentile woman in childbirth, since she would be assisting to birth a child for idolatry.”
Can you picture it? The Jewish midwife has invited the Rabbi over and they’re eating lunch. A knock comes at the door. It’s a neighbor – they need her help. A Gentile woman nearby, trying to deliver her baby, is in distress. Can she come help? The midwife casts a glance to her Rabbi. He shakes his head, and she refuses to go. After all, she would be assisting to birth a child for idolatry.
Cities and colonies all over the Roman kingdom were full of non-Jews, and as the Church grew, these people found themselves being invited to become Christians. But, for years, they had been hearing how the God of the Jews had no place for them. The separation was social, physical, religious, national, and racial. Many of the Christians who had previously been Jews made it clear that the non-Jewish people just weren’t on the same level when it came to being OK in God’s eyes.
Meanwhile, back in Ephesus - a Roman city, where many of its non-Jewish residents had become followers of Jesus. So as Paul writes a letter to encourage them, he also talks about how we non-Jews find a place of belonging in the Church. Are you listening? What it gives is a great encouragement for people who are outsiders to realize that God accepts them. And it also urges those who were insiders not to hold their status over anyone else.
Look back over it again:
Ephesians 2
v1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
v12 …remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
v13…you who once were far away have been brought near
v17…He came and preached peace to you who were far away
v19…you are no longer foreigners and aliens
These Gentiles – non-Jews – were previously outsiders in things relating to God. They were “the other guys.” That would also be true of probably all of us here today. (I don’t know of anyone here today that was born Jewish.) We could just read these words as Gentiles today and find a lot of joy and comfort in the fact that God has also made a way for us to be a part of His Kingdom, His Family, His House – just like those Ephesians. They needed to be reminded that they could be accepted, they could be on the inside, just as much as anyone else.
But I got to thinking about this text. I wonder what it was like for a formerly Jewish person to read this. I wonder what it would have meant for those people who were insiders, with a 2,000-year heritage of being God’s chosen people. What would it have been like for those insiders to read about how God accepts into His Kingdom even people who are way off? What would it have been like to read about the end of your mistaken right to look down on everyone else?
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Ephesians is written to “the other guys,” and that’s Gentiles. But I find another dynamic at work today – a tendency that we have as English-speaking Americans, as Christian Church members, as people who meet in a building on the east side. I think we could probably gain more insight from this if we would flip it around and think of ourselves as the insiders who sometimes need to be convinced that others have been allowed to be a part of this too.
Jesus has a plan for peace on earth. The first way I see Him bringing peace is in vv13-15…
Ephesians 2:13-22
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.
Jesus brings peace on earth between people…
1. By taking away privilege and exclusivism
The temple in Jerusalem was surrounded by several courtyards. Priests only could enter the innermost courtyard. Men only could go as far as the courtyard outside that, then the women. And then that courtyard was surrounded by a wall to keep out the non-Jews. There are 2 stones surviving today from this wall. They’re known as the “Thanatos stones,” after the Gk word for death. That’s because of the message inscribed on them, accented with red paint. It translated into something like: "No man of alien race is to enter within the barricade which surrounds the temple. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for the penalty of death that follows."
If you’d been in the temple, you knew about that dividing wall, and the threat of what would happen if you dared to cross over it. I wonder if this was written especially for the former Jews.
Paul says that Jesus has destroyed the barrier between Jews and non-Jews – between the insiders and the outcasts – by rendering the Law useless. No longer would outsiders be outsiders, because no longer was the Old Covenant the key to a person’s relationship with God. Jesus brought something new.
Think about this. Do you realize how much potential we have to make people on the outside feel like they can’t fit in with us?
We know one another. Some of you are related, and some others you have known for years. We tend to have our own vocabulary – potluck; Sunday School; fellowship; grace. We have traditions, music, and a heritage that goes back over 150 years just with this church family. You know your way around the building – you know the difference between Fellowship A and Fellowship B. You have the spot where you usually sit. You know the schedule. And you have your life all together…at least, it appears that you do.
Not one of those things is a bad thing. Many of those things have helped you grow in your faith. The problem is when we get so entrenched in those things that they start to make others feel like they could never fit in – kind of like a Gentile in 1st cent. Ephesus. The result is a loss of peace between us and anyone who has yet to be a part of us. There’s a wall, a barrier, even though we try not to build it. Jesus came to bring peace between people, and one way He came to do that was by taking down the things that we tend to set between us.
We don’t have to abandon all traditions, all words that someone might not understand, all music, or get rid of the building. But we do need to be intentional about helping people see that they belong with us.
You might get that done by just striking up a conversation with your neighbor you haven’t met, or by inviting a co-worker to a small group meeting. You might get it done by letting someone who feels like he could never be good enough to follow Jesus that you’re in the same boat, and then explain what grace means!
Ill – Mike’s family was coming over to eat at our house for the first time. They were members of the church in Joplin, MO, but they were a little nervous about coming to the preacher’s house. They had just arrived at our door when someone opened the back gate, and Buddy, our dog, made a getaway. Chaos ensued. With total grace and dignity, I bolted down the street, with a leash, yelling after the idiot canine who was giving me gray hair every week. After about 10 minutes, I returned to our home, sweaty, panting, and not looking very “pastoral.” I started in apologizing to Mike. He was smiling. He said, “I’m just glad to see you guys are just like us!” I learned something that day. It hadn’t even occurred to me that Mike might think there was something about us that made us less approachable. When people see that you’re just regular people like them, walls come down.
Jesus meant for that to happen. He did it all the time. That’s one of the ways He brings peace on earth between people. Another way is…
2. By meeting our universal need - forgiveness through His blood
When the Ebola virus swept over Liberia and other countries of West Africa in 2014, it didn’t matter if a person was a citizen of Sierra Leon or an American healthcare worker. Anyone who was infected had the same life-threatening condition. The seriousness of the situation was the same for every infected person. Sin is much like that – except that we’re all infected.
No matter how good anyone might be, the fact is we all have the same problem. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That means every one of us is in trouble in God’s courtroom. Every one of us needs the forgiveness that Jesus paid for on the cross – American or not, old or young, east side or west side, naughty or nice, gang banger, college student, retired widow, bank president, or blue collar worker.
Paul wrote to another Gentile church:
Colossians 2:13-14
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
People who would never share a glass with anyone will drink from the same dipper with everyone when they’re dying of thirst. Well, Jesus is the living water, and He’s the only way for us not to die of thirst. When we see ourselves as someone who’s going to die of thirst, and everyone else is being offered the same water, we’re going to care less about whether or not we feel comfortable sharing the dipper. That makes us closer to the guy next to us who needs a drink too, doesn’t it?
I had a friend in Joplin whose wife developed cancer a couple years before we moved there. So, when I met Rich and Terri, they were on the tail-end of her beating cancer, with the help of a lot of prayer and the MD Anderson hospital in Dallas. They spent a long time down there as Terri underwent treatments. Rich told me that when you go through that experience, you meet a lot of people who are going through the same thing, so you develop a lot of relationships – a camaraderie with people you never would have otherwise.
It reminds me of what we should look like here – a lot of people, who are all sin-sick, and who are all coming to the same place where the only cure can be found: Jesus. It makes good sense to me that we would develop relationships, a camaraderie, because we’re all here going through this experience together.
That’s one way Jesus brings peace on earth between people. One other way is…
3. By making and proclaiming the same offer to everyone
Ephesians 2:17-22
He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 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.
Look real quickly at what God is offering for everyone to become today:
V19. Citizens – no longer foreigners and aliens. No longer just a green card. You get to be part of God’s Kingdom!
V19. Members of God’s household – part of a family! You’re not just a guest around a table or someone invited overnight. You belong to this family! You have refrigerator rights!
Vv20-22. God’s Building – the word here is the one more often used of the innermost part of the temple – the most holy place – where God lives!
What happens when the invitation to become all these things is issued to every person, just the same, regardless of how close or far off they were before?
We took a boy into our household. He was almost 11 when he came to live with us. He’d been moved around a lot in the previous 5 years. He had no real concept of family, no sense of a home to call his own, and no place to settle down. We weren’t the ultimate family, but we did understand that a person needs a place where he belongs, a place where he plans to settle in, and needs to be a legitimate part of a family.
That’s what God is offering to every person.
Conclusion:
But here’s an important thought as we enter our decision time today:
Sometimes people confuse the invitation to Heaven with who’s going to go to Heaven. Jesus died for everyone. Jesus invites everyone, and that sounds like a universal fix for everyone, doesn’t it?
I get a wedding invitation in the mail. It’s sent with the hopes that I’ll show up. There’s a SASE RSVP enclosed. It has card for me to check off: I’ll be there! Or “Sorry, I sadly miss!” I don’t go to everything I get invited to. Do you?
An invitation is just that – an invite. Not everyone will accept.
Make a note of it: Jesus’ invitation is universal, because the need is universal, but what’s clearly not universal is acceptance of the invitation, so the outcome isn’t the same for everyone. Some will be saved, and some won’t. It simply depends on peoples’ response.
His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross.
