It took 125 years, but the infamous feud between the Hatfields and McCoys finally ended; sixty descendants of the original clans gathered on Saturday, June 14, 2003, in Pikefield, Kentucky, to sign a document declaring an official end to more than a century of hatred and bloodshed.
Most think the feuding between the McCoys of Kentucky and Hatfields of West Virginia began in 1878 when Randolph McCoy accused one of the Hatfields of stealing a hog. The Hatfields won the "hog war'' when a McCoy cousin sided with the opposing clan.
Feelings festered and other incidents occurred that finally resulted in the shooting death of Ellison Hatfield in 1882. Retaliation begat retaliation until the feud claimed 11 more family members over the next ten years. Subsequent conflicts between the two clans have involved court battles over everything from timber rights to cemetery plots.
The treaty calling for peace reads: "We do hereby and formally declare an official end to all hostilities implied, inferred, and real, between the families now and forevermore. We ask by God's grace and love that we be forever remembered as those that bound together the hearts of two families to form a family of freedom in America."
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The hearts of two families bound together into one. What a novel idea; one that may strike us as original to the Hatfields and McCoys. The fact is, the idea of bonding multiple families into a single into one goes back to Bible times.
A. In the OT, God chose Israel to be his people. They entered into a special relationship with him; a covenant relationship that set them apart from the pagan nations around them.
B. In the NT, Christ came to earth in human form (Jesus) to join people from all nations (Jew and Gentile) into a common family—the church. As both Jews and Gentiles accepted Jesus as the Messiah, the body of believers was for the first time, fully integrated. (Non-Israelite believers existed in the OT also (Ruth, Abraham, et al.), but not to this extent.
2. In Ephesus, this integration of Jews and Gentiles was not without its problems. There were significant culture-clashes, and much debate about how one came into a right relationship with God. This led to hostility among the believers, causing Paul to address the matter.
[Christians are united in the peace of Christ so that the church may be effective; we must therefore live in the peace God intended and made possible. OYBT Eph. 2, as Paul reminds the Ephesian believers of the peace they are to have in Christ.]
II. THE OBSTACLE TO PEACE (11-12). Paul addresses “you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’”.
1. In the ancient world, the name by which a person or thing “is called” expresses its essence and dynamic presence rather than an arbitrary attribute. In other words, calling the Gentiles uncircumcised was a great insult.
2. Some Jews believed that regardless of a Gentile’s acceptance and faith in Christ, they would forever remain second-class citizens in the community of faith. Although circumcision had no particular power (except marking one as a member of the covenant family), it suggested one’s commitment to honor the whole of Jewish Law; something the Gentiles were not likely to do.
A. When Paul refers to circumcision as “that done in the body by the hands of men”, he does it to remind the Jews that it is a human symbol of God’s grace, not the act of grace itself. (Compare it to a necklace with a cross. The necklace itself has no power, but is rather a symbol of the power of the cross in the life of the believer).
B. The OT Law was an obstacle to peace for Gentile believers, who were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, without hope and without God in the world.
C. This obstacle was a wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles, and prior to Christ made unity between the two groups practically impossible. Something had to be done; peace must come, even if it was at a price. . .
III. THE PRICE OF PEACE (13-18): 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 . . .
1. Despite the differences in them prior to conversion, Jews and Gentiles may now live in peace, because Christ’s sacrifice on the cross destroyed the “wall of hostility” between them (you’ve heard it said that the ground is level at the foot of the cross”).
2. Two groups have become one. In fact, people of every nation and land became one in the blood of Christ. His once-for-all sacrifice at Calvary created peace and fostered unity among all those who would call him Savior and Lord, both then and now.
3. There can be no more hostility. Christ paid for peace with his very life, so that “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” In this state, there is no Jew or Gentile. We all have access to the father by one Spirit.
IV. THE FRUIT OF PEACE (19-22): The Effective Church.
1. Fellow citizens and members of God’s household; built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ as the cornerstone.
A. Paul’s words leave no room for debate. No longer can the two families quarrel over which is closer to God. . .they are together in one household with Christ as cornerstone!
B. Believers are to rise into a holy temple in the Lord individually, so that as a body they can be built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
2. The fruit (expectation) of peace between the believers is unity and spiritual growth.
3. Unity and growth in the church shows the world Christ’s accomplished reconciliation.
4. The church is, therefore, the expression of hope in the world.
V. CONCLUSION: Lessons from Ephesians 2
1. It is impossible to unite the world apart from Christ. There is no grass-roots movement, no political ideology, or celebrity cause that can unite the world in peace. Apart from the blood of Christ applied to the hearts of man, peace, unity and harmony are words in a fairy tale.
2. The church must be the lens through which the world sees and understands peace. Believers have a peace that passes all understanding; only in the power of the Holy Spirit can we share that peace with the world in a way that they can accept.
VI. APPLICATION: Uniting the church for effective outreach
1. There can be no walls of hostility.
A. We may think we’re better off than the early church, but a close look at contemporary churches sometimes reveals animosity between believers. Why would anyone be drawn to a hostile church?
B. If we are to be the spiritual stimulus in the world, we must offer the peace and unity unavailable anywhere else—that which is available only in Christ!
2. We must accept our biblical responsibility to share the gospel.
A. The church does not exist solely for worship, although that is an important function. The church is meant to be Christ’s ambassadors in the world, spreading the gospel everywhere.
B. The church is not effective if it is merely self-serving. Christ ordained the church that she might be his voice in the world, bringing hope to the hopeless, and faith to the faithless.
3. We must love one another as Christ loves us.
A. Above all, the world must see love. The world is completely devoid of love, and has nowhere to turn to find it other than the church.
B. A church divided cannot demonstrate the love of Christ, and therefore offers nothing different than what the world offers.
[Christians are united in the peace of Christ so that the church may be effective; we must therefore live in the peace God intended and made possible.]
