He Himself is Our Peace

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He Himself Is Our Peace

He wanted to forget. Many years ago there was a man who immigrated to America. He was a man who wanted to forget. He bought clothing that was more expensive than he could afford because he wanted to forget how poor he was before he came to the U.S. He changed his name from “Braun” to “Brown” because he wanted to forget how un-American his name sounded. But all the people around of him made fun of him because, as much as he tried, he could not change his past. In God’s word this morning, Paul takes the people in his congregation back. He reminds them what they used to be: “¹¹ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— ¹² 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.” (Eph. 2:11–12 NIV11-GKE)

Paul does not want these new Christians to forget. He does not want them to forget what their lives used to be like. They used to be without citizenship in the church and in heaven. And they used to be with the burden, weight, and shame of sin on top of them. But then notice where Paul goes. He tells them: “¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” (Eph. 2:13–16 NIV11-GKE)

Paul tells them that they used to be away from and outside of Christ’s kingdom. But now they are in Christ and in his church. And how is it that they can be sure and confident that eventhough they used to be outsiders they now belong inside the church? Paul tells them, “He himself is our peace.”

And my dear friends in Christ the words that Paul speaks to them he speaks to us still today. We can fall into that trap of that immigrant who tries ever-so-hard to forget who he was and where he came from. For, I imagine that few, if any of us can claim a blood line back to Abraham. We are Gentiles. But look what Jesus did for us. Jesus became our peace. And how exactly did he become our peace? Paul tells us that he did so by destroying the barrier with his own flesh. What an amazing picture that Paul paints for us. In temple there were walls and barriers. And if you were a Gentile, a non-Jew, you could not go into the courtyard of the temple. In fact, they even had these huge signs that said that if you went into the courtyard as a Gentile, you took your life in your own hands.¹ They were on the outside looking in. And when they tip-toed into being a believer in the Lord, they stuck out.

And my dear friends in Christ, the same happens today. It is hard to be on the outside and get in these doors. Put yourself in the shoes of someone out there. There are the parts of your life that God’s word asks you to change. Let’s say you smoke, or drink, or use less-than-holy language. Let’s say that you are divorced or living with someone and not married to that person. These are just some of the areas where God’s word speaks about change. And then there’s the parts of your life that you cannot change. The color of your skin. Or the amount of money you make. These are things you cannot change. We had our School Board meeting a few weeks ago. And after the meeting was done, I walked out into the parking lot. And I realized that I was the only one who didn’t own a truck. All I got is a beat-up minivan. And so, there are the parts of your life God’s word asks you to change. And there are the parts you cannot change. And sometimes there are times you cannot tell the difference. And our great temptation to sin is to forget—to forget what it is to be on the outside looking in. Our sin is that we can be impatient, wondering why those who visit our church cannot “get with the program.”

And so, my dear friends in Christ, what do we do about this? What do we do about this challenge of those who are on the outside beginning to come inside? What is the solution? Let me first give you two areas where there is not a solution. First, we don’t diffuse God’s word. If, for example, if someone has a challenge with using proper language here in church, we don’t show them that we are one of them by sharing our own colorful language we have picked up over the years. God calls on us to come out of the darkness into the light, not to be swallowed by the darkness. The second false solution is to deny ourselves and our sin. We go to church in our clean clothing and our clean words portraying and pretending that there’s no uncleanness in our souls. Neither of these help the situation. What then is the solution? What is the solution to our sin of forgetting and being impatient? What is the solution to dealing wit those who come in from the outside? Paul tells us that Jesus, himself is our peace. He has forged peace with God above and with each other. He did this by keeping the commands that you could never keep. He did this by dying for the sinful yearnings that you cannot put to death. And what is so amazing about these words is that Paul doesn’t just tell us the fact that Jesus is our peace. He also tells us many times and many ways about how Jesus is our peace. Listen to what Paul says: “¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. ¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” (Eph. 2:17–20 NIV11-GKE)

Imagine what comfort this would have been for the Gentiles in Paul’s day. They have just begun to follow the one true God. But they stumble. They fail and they fall. They keep going back to the sins they are trying so hard to leave forever. And since these people sinned and failed continually, Paul repeatedly and continually preaches peace to them so that they would know that yes, even that repeated sin is forgiven. He does the same with us today. The times we should have understood those on the outside better and been patient with them, those sins are forgiven. And, my dear friends, that is a preaching we can share with those on the outside too. When our neighbor or friend from the community says, “I don’t want to join your church. There’s nothing but hypocrites there,” we can respond by telling them what my Seminary professor told me. We can say, “yes, there’s hypocrites in our church. And we’re always looking for more. Why don’t you join us?’” I love that response because it so openly acknowledges that we daily sin much and deserve punishment. But, daily, we are forgiven in Christ. Or when they say, “You wouldn’t want me in your church. I would never be able to live like you people do,’” How wonderful it is to be able to share with them these simple words, Jesus himself is our peace. None of us—absolutely none of us is able to put to death our sinful yearnings and desires. They will be with us till we die. But we have this promise from God that Jesus is our peace.

And so, my dear friends, remind yourselves of the truth. Remember what you were. When you came into this world, because of your sin, you were on the outside looking in, without hope. But now look at what and who you are. Jesus is your peace. That is a fact you can know for yourself. And that is a fact you can share with those on the outside too. Amen.

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