The Prince of Peace
The Letter to the Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro:
I know that during this time of year, its hard not to think about those awkward holiday dinners with family where there might be some underlying conflict. Perhaps you struggle to get along with an aunt, a sibling, or a cousin. Or perhaps those meals never happen because of estrangement in the relationship. Peace in our personal conflicts this time of year.
We turn to the phrase that was given to our Lord in Isaiah 9:6
6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
What I would like for us to consider today is what does peace mean in the Bible and how does Jesus fulfill the role of the title given in Is 9:6 Prince of Peace
The HEBREW word is SALEM used in the OT and when spoken it sounds like SHALOM, which Jews say to other Jews as a greeting. Their intention is to wish for peace, prosperity, and well-being on those to whom they are addressing.
When one thinks of peace, we most often go to the idea of an absence of conflict in war between nations or peoples. If you desire peace in the home, you are wanting an absence of fighting and bickering with one another. If you want peace in society, maybe you just want people to get along and stop hating and fighting one another. But removing conflict has no true effect if something good and righteous is put in its place.
So the attempts might be made to supplant conflict with kindness. But mere acts of kindness in society or in the home do not eliminate conflict, they only try to dress up society or distract us from the reality that conflict still exists.
Peace is more than the absence of conflict. Peace is the fruit of reconciliation. When reconciliation happens after conflict, then peace can be enjoyed. Now there is temporary peace from conflict and then their is lasting peace. Temporary peace is good but as you all know, its short-lived. You have an argument with your husband over finances, you seek forgiveness, you reconcile, and you kiss and make up. But it doesn't last because you fight about it again the next week or month.
True and lasting peace is available, but it cannot be found within the efforts of mankind. You cant be determined enough, sacrificial enough, to make true reconciliation happen. Why? Sin keeps mankind from experiencing true reconciliation. Sin enters the world with relationship with God and man is broken and what follows? Conflict with one another. Look with me at Gen 3.
When sin enters the world, the proof of this argument is found in the garden. Adam and Eve go to war with God in their rebellion. They choose to deny God’s rule over their life and they eat from the tree that they were forbidden to eat from.
8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
Notice, they hid from God in their shame from sin. The Lord calls out to them for a confession of sin, emphasizing their rebellion from following his commandments.
12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”
Adam now turns in sinfulness to conflict with his wife. Instead of being the leader of his home and taking care of her in temptation, he rebels and now turns on his wife, blaming her for their rebellion. This is conflict with God resulting in conflict with one another.
All of this conflict needs reconciliation with God chiefly in order for societal conflict to be healed. This is what Paul will teach us today about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our true peace because he does not come into the world, just to teach us how to be kind, giving us pointers of how to make relationship work. He comes into the world to destroy sin and death so reconciliation with God and man can occur, thus bringing peace.
Review:
Eph 2 breaks up in vs 1-10 and 11-22 as a chapter. 1-10 deals with how the work of Christ individually brings new life to dead sinners. We looked at doctrines like the sin nature being spiritual death to mankind and the need for God, through the accomplishment of Jesus on the cross, to bring give new life by his gracious work of redemption. This work comes by the gift of faith where he empowers us to believe and trust in him. This is a spiritual work throughout our lives where God grants us faith to believe and continues to help us grow in spiritual maturity.
v 11-22 is kind of a repetition of this but from a different perspective. Paul turns in v 11 and into chapter 3 to looking at the corporate body, the church. What that individual change does is bring new life to individuals and unites us together as one new creation, the church. Some commentators call this the new humanity…one brought to new life by God’s amazing creatives powers of grace. Paul will show the church at Ephesus just how powerful that work of redemption was as he brought about two distinct peoples into one new body or humanity, the holy church.
As we begin today, lets first look at Our Need for Peace
1. The Peace We Need (11-12)
1. The Peace We Need (11-12)
Notice the comparison to Eph 2:1-3
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
11 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.
Notice the similarities of these passages. 1-3 is personal reflection on our past lives of slavery to sin while vs 11-12 reflect on the social conflict that sin brings into the world. Paul wants to reflect on this because it was such a cultural issue even in his day and could be a potential problem of conflict still if the Ephesians did not find peace in the reconciliation that comes in Jesus. Both a spiritual and societal reconciliation is taught in these passages.
The Bible shows us that Israel was chosen to be the people of God from all the other nations of the world. He set them apart when he called Abram to leave the Chaldeans and be set apart. Through Abraham, God builds and establishes the nation through the seed of Abraham and he commanded Israel to set themselves apart in holiness from the pagan practices and worship of the “nations.” God was not teaching superiority and inferiority of people on the earth. He was not advocating prejudice but sinfulness in mankind generated prejudice on its own. But the sinful Jews looked at the nations as lesser people because God has chosen Israel alone to be His people.
This prejudice is prevalent in all nations, by the way. John MacArthur, in his commentary on Ephesians highlights this prejudice in the Greeks as well.
Ephesians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 7: The Unity of the Body
The Greeks were so proud of their culture and supposed racial superiority that they considered everyone else to be barbarians, a belief to which Paul alludes in Romans 1:14 and Colossians 3:11. The Greek language was considered to be the language of the gods. The Roman statesman Cicero wrote, “As the Greeks say, ‘All men are divided into two classes, Greeks and barbarians
As Americans, we can look down on other nations in a boastful arrogance as if the world needs America. We need to be careful of such thinking. Of course we can love our country without falling into a pride that leads to prejudice and hatred for those not like us. The nations of this world need God, not America. God is the only way of salvation and prosperity and if we are not careful national pride can become our idolatry.
I say all this to paint the picture of the huge work of new creation that had to be done in the hearts and minds of followers of Jesus. For Jews who converted to Christianity, they were now called to look to Gentiles as brothers and sister in Christ. Likewise, the Gentiles were also called to look to Jews, not a lesser people, but equal in the eyes of Christ.
Now how can this happen. Paul sets up vs 11-22 about the church being a new united people in Christ, by giving us v 1-10 about the spiritual change that first must occur. He highlights reconciliation with God to be the chief change that needs to occur so that reconciliation and peace can be found in those who are different from us. For the Ephesians, that meant Jews and Gentiles being united together in the church by the work of Christ to save them from their sinful selves. Only after that work of grace, can they truly love and worship as one.
Notice with me 2 main descriptors of Gentiles before their work of Christ.
A. Disdain 11-12
A. Disdain 11-12
The word Gentile in the Greek is ETHNE, which in other places is translated as nations. For example in Matt 28:19
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
As I said, the Jews were called to be a “holy nation” among all the other nations of the world as it says in Deut 7:6. This was to call Israel to be holy and set apart from the detestable worship of false gods in those cultures. YHWH alone was to be worshipped in the earth and no other worship of false gods was acceptable. While Israel was called to be set apart, they were to be a blessing to other nations in their worship and influence as worshippers of YHWH.
But outside of the small minority of Gentiles who became proselytes, Gentiles as a whole represented rebellion from God, pagan worship of false gods and practitioners of hideous abominations that deny YHWH as the one true God. Such gross false worship included practices such as, but not limited to sexual religious immorality and the offering of children as sacrifices to false gods.
In Eph 2:11-12, Paul reminds the Gentiles of the church in Ephesus, that their lives before Christ was one of disdain. The Jew has disdain for them because of their false worship. But greater than man’s disdain for other men’s sin is God’s anger towards man. In verse 11, Paul calls them the “uncircumcision.” Circumcision was the sign of the covenant that Jews received as a sign of their covenant relationship with God. Why circumcision? It seems such a strange practice, right?
Circumcision represented purity and holiness in God. The sign that was performed on the eight day after the birth of males, represented purity found in God alone. Gentiles, were uncircumcised and that represented unholy and impure lives. They were not impure because of some physical practice, but because their hearts did not belong to YHWH. Circumcision was taught in the OT to be a metaphor for the spiritual practice of repentance and faith.
6 “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
All people across this world practice abominations against God, regardless of what nation they belong to. They need heart circumcision whereby God does a work within to purify them from evil nature of sin and give them a heart that longs for and worship the One True God alone.
“you were called Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands”
Not only was their a disdain before God, but Paul is emphasizing the disdain that Jews had with Gentiles. Do you hear the snobbery of this statement?
For God to build his church, he had to remove the hostility and prejudice that exited between Jews and the nations. He was bringing them into one new assembly called the church and prejudice and hatred had to die. This again is where reconciliation with God precedes reconciliation with one another.
Peter vision in Acts 10 is an example of what God was doing through tearing down of disdain and hostility between person
{Read acts 10:10-23}
Nothing this world is promoting these days is going to take societal prejudice and hatred away. Nothing CRT promotes, noting White Supremacy promotes, nothing pop-psychology promotes will fix this problem. Peace with others starts with peace with God and that requires reconciliation with him through Christ. When you are humbled by your sin and you recognize the Savior who took the wrath of God upon himself , you begin to look at interpersonal conflicts different. Your new life in Christ grants you patient, kindness, humility and contentment. You show longsuffering and self-sacrifice towards others.
Are you filled with hate and prejudice? Are there conflicts in your life you don’t want to reconcile? Friend, this might be because the Lord has not saved you. Yes, reconciliation with others is hard. Reconciliation with God provided by His Son was harder.
Notice secondly under the heading of our NEED FOR PEACE, the distance from God.
B. Distance (12)
B. Distance (12)
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.
Paul also makes clear more descriptors of the distance that Gentiles were from God. Think of how the they did not receive the opportunity to be in covenant with God. They were not given the law. God did not permit Gentiles to enter the temple area in Jerusalem beyond the court of the Gentiles. This represented a large divide of the God of Israel with the nations.
But…God is working behind the scenes in his perfect plan of redemption to make a way for all peoples of all nations to know and trust in the God of the Bible. While he chose Israel as His people, we see his interaction with Gentiles in different ways to remind us that He was working on His plan.
Examples such as Rahab are shadows of this. This Caananite prostitute is a perfect example of a gentile guilty of abominations against herself, others and God whom God used in a mighty way in the battle of Jericho. It was there that she was visited by Israelite spies, Joshua and Caleb, risking her life to hid them as they planned the attack on the city. Her faith in YHWH resonated there and beyond as she marries Salmon and was part of the lineage of Jesus. This just shows us that God was making a way to for salvation for all peoples and no moral or cultural would stand in his way.
We too, born in America, India, and Africa in this fellowship, were not part of Israel. We were far from God and not part of his covenant made with Israel and yet He provided a way for us to be saved. Our sin and our pagan abominations made us enemies of God. We were not cannibals, we did not sacrifice children to false gods and yet our sin kept us far from Him.
But he came near to us, as a babe in the manger, the provider of reconciliation and peace with God for all whom were chosen before the foundation of the world. Let us be reminded then just how great the grace of God is that the sins of Gentiles and Jews can be covered by the blood of Christ.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
In Egypt, the blood from the lambs were spread on the doorposts. The Lord bringing wrath upon Egypt simply passed over the house where the blood was applied in faith. If Egyptians knew and believed in that promise, they too would have been spared. The blood was the way of escape. For Gentiles and Jews, the blood of Jesus brings us near to him, even as though we are not people of Israel.
For it is God’ plan to bring the nations to himself, by the blood of Christ. Revelation 7:9
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
By his blood, Gentiles and Jews are healed and for this reason, those who were once far off from God because of sin can now be brought near in Christ.
Many people in this world see their sin and they wish God might reconcile them to himself. But they don’t believe because they think their sin is an obstacle. They think they need to clean themselves up first. Let v 13 be the confidence you need friend if this is you. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can bring you near to God. This is your reconciliation. This is your peace.
We will spend next week talking more about the Peace that comes in Christ.
2. The Peace Provided (13-18)
2. The Peace Provided (13-18)
3. The Peace United (19-22)
3. The Peace United (19-22)
