As we move into the Christmas season, “Peace on Earth” is a common theme that you hear often. The angels praised God at the birth of Jesus and said (not singing-nowhere in the Bible is there a record of the angels ever singing – chanting maybe, but not singing) “Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14). The KJV and NKJV has “Goodwill toward men” which many people misinterpret saying God gives peace and goodwill toward all men. That is not what is said here. What is meant is that God gives peace and goodwill to those He favors (NIV).
And who does God favor? Those who come to Him, for salvation through His son Jesus Christ. Here is the cold hard facts according to scripture, we will not see peace on the whole earth until Jesus comes again and rules. Scripture says he will rule with rod or scepter of iron. His rule will be absolute. Isaiah tells us:
Isaiah 2:4 And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.
Only then will there be worldwide peace. So what about this peace the angels chanted about 2,000 years ago at the announcement of Jesus’ birth? This is our subject for this next month. Today we are looking at "Jesus is our Peace" from Ephesians 2:14. We will be looking in Ephesian 2 about peace. Jesus as our peace is not quite what you expect. Let’s look at this together.
Ephesians 2:13–22
Paul was writing to the church in Ephesus. He had spent considerable time there teaching and preaching. Ephesus was the capital of the Roman province of Asia. Ephesus had a lot of different people there from around the known world. Whether slave or free, Jews or Gentiles. In the Jewish mind there are only two groups of people in the world: Jews and Gentiles.
For us, we would be all be considered Gentiles unless there was one of Jewish descent and heritage among us. There was a divide between Jews and the rest of world. Paul was writing for them to overcome this division between the Jews and Gentiles within the church. You may say that we don’t have this problem today. Oh yes we do. We have churches divided over this issue of race and it should not be so. We have people of different color. Yet according to Scripture, there is but one race, the human race. The difference between people is quite literally skin deep. Paul when we was in Athens, speaking the the intellectuals gathered there said:
Acts 17:26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation
Some translation will say "one blood" vice from one man. We know we all came from one man, Adam. What is interesting, according to scientists who study DNA, everyone on earth can trace their DNA lineage back to one of 3 women some 4-5,000 years ago. Interesting! That little fact agrees with scripture because according to my Bible, sometime around 4,500 years ago there was a great flood that wiped out all people, save Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their three wives. Yes, we can all trace our ancestry back to these same people (Noah and his family) and DNA studies have shown this. We are only of one race, but what makes us different is our diverse backgrounds and heritages, not our skin color. Churches with racial tensions should not be so.
Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
In the Jewish mind, those who are far off are Gentiles because God had not revealed Himself to them like He had with His chosen people, the Jews. To put this into context let’s back up a couple of verses:
Ephesians 2:11–12 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Gentile were separate. They were stepchildren at best, and only if they would convert to Judaism. But now Paul was saying they "have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Now Jews and Gentiles are together -why the tension, why are they not embracing one another?
Ephesians 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall
It matters little what our skin color, our nationality, our ethnic group, our cultural heritage. Jesus Himself is our peace. As we will see, peace that God gives us has a horizontal as well as a vertical aspect. We are to be at peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are talking about peace with one another in the church, not with the rest of the world. Paul goes to say “who made both groups into one” meaning one body as we will read in verse 16. We are one, and whatever barriers there may have been, Jesus has broken them down. Jesus is our peace in the church. There is no racial division in the family of God.
Ephesians 2:15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace
The Law was the one big thing that separated Jews from the Gentiles. The Jews had God’s Law and the Gentiles did not. That was more than enough reason for the Jew to despise the Gentile. But Jesus was end of the Law.
Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
There was no more Law to follow. The Jews or the Gentiles. By eliminating the Law, the two groups had nothing separating them. “so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man” Or in verse 16, we are one body in Christ. So here Jesus “thus establishing peace.” Jesus makes peace between the groups that are at odds with one another.
Ephesians 2:16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
We, those of us who are saved, who know Jesus, have been reconciled to God and together with others who are reconciled to God, we are one body.
Colossians 1:20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. By being reconciled by His blood we have peace with God and we can experience the peace of God.
Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
By our faith in Jesus, Jesus made peace by “having put to death the enmity,” or hatred, hostility or animosity towards one another. This is huge. There is to be peace within the house of God. What did Jesus say? How will the world know if we are his disciples?
John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Think about it. A fellowship with peace, peace that is Jesus (verse 14), and peace made by Jesus (verse 15), is a fellowship that truly loves one another. I need peace in my life, I come here to this church to find peace, not just the peace of God I have down deep in my soul, but to experience peace with others. The world around us may be at war, may be filled with hate, but here with you, the church, I have peace. Jesus is not only is our peace with one another, and made for that peace with taking down the barriers that prevented peace, but in the next verse we see that Jesus preached peace to all:
Ephesians 2:17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR;
This is a quote from Isaiah 57:19 (note the all caps in the NASB). Jesus came to all, both those who were close by and those who were far from Him. Jesus came preaching peace. Let's review for a moment: Verse 14 – Jesus is our peace; Verse 15 – Jesus made peace for us; Verse 17 – Jesus preached peace to us all.
Peace has a vertical aspect as well as a horizontal aspect within the church.
Ephesians 2:18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
We all have the same access to the same Spirit and the same Father, through Jesus. Jesus made a way.
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
We are all the same. We are one body in Christ.
Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,
This why we call each other brothers and sisters in Christ. We all have one and the same Father.
Galatians 3:26–28 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And this local gathering of the family, this local house of God we will call the church. More specifically in this local family we call ourselves Rosemont Baptist Church. We are family. We have peace with one another.
Ephesians 2:20–22 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
I will not go into great detail with these verses for I preached on them in the last couple of years, but I included them to keep it all in context. The purpose of peace within the church is for our unity. We are being built up together. We together are a holy temple in the Lord.
If we are not having peace with one another, then we let something foreign into the mix. Something of the world and not of God. we had taken our eyes off of Jesus, who is our peace. Our fellowship must be a place where we can escape from the pressure of the world and experience peace. We each need to be the instrument of peace in our fellowship. each of us is responsible to be the peace of our church.
There was a song by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller that came out back in the late fifties, “Let there Be Peace on Earth.”
Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me. Let There Be Peace on Earth The peace that was meant to be. With God as our Father, Brothers all are we. Let me walk with my brother In perfect harmony.
This speaks of the church, not the world. Peace on the earth will not happen until Jesus comes again. In the meanwhile Paul tells us:
Romans 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
Only Jesus will bring peace to the world, but I will be God’s instrument of peace in the church. Are you instrument of peace in the church?
Do you know peace? Do you know the Prince of Peace, Jesus?
Today we will remember what Jesus did to bring us peace as we observe the Lord’s Supper.
