Sermon Tone Analysis

Lamplight

He is Our Peace

Intro/Welcome:

The sun is quickly setting as you enter into the darkened house.

The only light you have in which to see is coming from the small clay lamp that you are holding.

It gives just enough light for you to take your next step safely.

While standing in the house, not knowing exactly where to go, your heightened senses pick up on the scratching that is coming from somewhere in the house.

With your little light, you start making your way toward the sound.

Through the archway you enter a room where a man sits hunched over a small table feverishly writing with several lamps scattered around the table and room.

The man looks up from his parchment role, and you see the Apostle Paul with eyes full of concern.

You are drawn to the rest of him though as you see the tole that following Jesus has taken on him.

His head had been recently shaved and faint deep bruises were slowly healing under his skin.

His eye was still bloodshot and swollen from the recent punches he received, his hands were still bandages, and as he turned back to his letter, you notice that he is moving very gently and must have a fractured or broken rib.

Paul is under house arrest in the city of Rome awaiting his trial and had beaten on the Temple steps by religious leaders because had been falsely accused of bringing a non-Jewish man into the Temple where non-Jewish people were strictly forbidden to enter.

Now, put yourself in Paul’s shoes.

What would be going through your mind?

Would you have been angry?

Depressed?

Ready to just quit everything?

Would you have been questioning God’s goodness?

This must have been an incredibly dark time for Paul.

Falsely accused of a crime he did not commit, isolated from his friends and community.

Beaten by his own people.

I’m sure that the only light that Paul was experiencing was coming from the lamps scattered around him during his house arrest.

While it might be easy to assume that, Paul did not allow himself to be a victim of his situation.

He did not allow his circumstances to circumvent the light of peace that he had found in Jesus even though he was surrounded by darkness.

How was Paul able to focus on the lamplight of peace in his life even though everything was following apart?

Could it be that when Paul encountered a problem, our series verse popped into his head?

Shipwrecked ….

Your word is a lamp…

beaten ….

Your word is a lamp…

hungry … your word …

naked and afraid … your word …

Even though Paul’s life looks like one disaster after another that you can read about in 2 Corinthians 11, we find him writing to a group of believers so that they will remain faithful to God and one another and he clues them and us today on what this type of unity produces within the people of God: peace.

NEED: Have you experienced that kind of peace in your life?

Do you want too?

If you do, then Paul tells you where you can find that peace for yourself today and what that peace produces within your life when you find it for yourself, personally and corporately as a church.

He tells us in Ephesians 2:14-18 …

READ Ephesians 2:14-18

Scripture Statement: Paul is reminding the Ephesian believers that the lamplight of peace comes from Jesus Christ.

Sermon Statement: The light of peace that you are searching for can only be found in Jesus.

Transition: If you are searching for peace, then you need to realize that …

Point #1: Peace is a Person (v.

14a)

Paul tells the Ephesian believers and us today that peace is not a state of mind, freedom from disturbances, or some tranquil season of your life.

Peace is not something that you produce inside of yourself or create by removing stressful situations from your life.

Peace is not something that you can achieve by upgrading your car, house, or friend group.

Instead, Paul is reminding us that we can have peace only when we have Jesus because peace is a person.

In the original Greek language that Paul wrote in, all the words point back to the beginning of this new sentence: Christ himself.

In fact, verses 14-18 is all one sentence.

The literal word for word translation would be: Himself for he is peace our … It is all pointing back to Jesus.

It’s all about Jesus!

I love how these two modern translations put it:

Read Eph.

2:14a (NIV) – For he himself is our peace, ...

Read Eph.

2:14a (NLT) - For Christ himself has brought peace to us.

What both of these translations are doing is showing us that Jesus is the originator and author of peace, but he doesn’t keep it to himself instead he brings his peace to us and shares it with us so that it can permeate our lives and rule within us no matter what is happening around us.

Jesus is the creator and deliverer of our peace.

Peace doesn’t come to you when you remove negativity from your life.

Peace doesn’t happen to you when your favorite season comes back around and pumpkin spice lattes or my favorite Nutty Pumpkin from Dunkin’ shows up to bring you blessings upon blessings.

Am I right?

Where my pumpkin people at?

No, peace comes into your life when Jesus comes into your life because Jesus is the author of peace.

That’s why when Jesus was about to leave his closest followers and friends and go to the Cross so that peace can come for us all, he told them these comforting words in John 14:27.

READ John 14:27

You cannot leave peace or give peace if you don’t have peace and Jesus has the peace that we are all searching for in our lives.

Peace was an essential part of Jesus’ ministry.

Everywhere he went, peace followed for those who put their trust in him.

In fact, the Old Testament prophets viewed peace as being a central characteristic of the messianic kingdom.

Isaiah 9:6-7 supports this idea that a future perfect king will one day rule over all creation and peace will pour out over the earth.

READ Isaiah 9:6-7

That king has come.

The Prince of Peace has already walked this earth and defeated darkness by being our sacrifice so that we could receive His peace and live out His peace even in the midst of destruction, despair, depression, or utter devastation.

The peace that Jesus gives is not contingent upon the circumstances and situations of your life.

Your life could literally be falling apart, yet the peace that Jesus alone gives can permeate your life and be the sustaining force that fuels you through your valley of despair.

While the lamplight of peace is not contingent upon life’s situations, it is dependent upon you having a relationship with Jesus.

READ 1 John 1:5-7

PERSONAL STORY - Shorter

When you have a relationship with Jesus, it doesn’t mean that you light is going to great.

Rather, it means that His peace can guide your life because his lamplight is illuminating your next step.

I know this to be true because I’ve experienced it in my life.

I’ve seen the light of Jesus peace push back the darkness and depression in my life.

In 2015, Heather and I moved back to Cincinnati from Pittsburgh.

Jetta died / apartment froze / apartment flood / mom / Heather’s dad / Eric / Granny

All of that happened within like 3-4 years.

But I’ll never forget, we were sitting in a worship service and I was just a wreck.

I couldn’t pray, I couldn’t worship.

I was mad.

I was mad at God for allowing all of these to happen to us.

We were just devastated.

But God wasn’t ready to give up on us and my wife saw this picture of Jesus shielding us from all that Satan was sending our way.

Sure some awfully painful things happened, but when Heather told me about what she saw I knew that Jesus was fighting for us, he was protecting us, his light was still shining into our darkness and I could rest in the peace that only He can give and that made all the difference.

Do you want that kind of peace?

Even though your life is falling apart and ever solution you try simply falls short of truly satisfying you, there is a peace that transcends any and everything this world tries to offer you and that peace has a name and it is Jesus and He is welcoming you (mess and all) with open arms because of His great love for you.

Stop trying solution after solution and simply surrender to Him.

Receive his peace and let his peace light your path forward.

You see peace isn’t just personal, even though you personally experience it.

Rather, peace is a person, and his name is Jesus.