CHRIST HIMSELF IS OUR PEACE - EPH 2:14-16

Good morning. For those of you who are here this morning or are listening on

live stream, welcome to the preaching ministry of Dillingham Moravian Church. My name is Pastor Simon.

May the Lord lead us to abide in Christ as we study the Word of God together.

The Christmas Truce was a series of widespread, unofficial ceasefires along

the Western Front of the First World War around Christmas 1914.

The truce occurred five months after hostilities had begun.

Lulls occurred in the fighting as armies, men and musicians,

and commanders reconsidered their strategies following the stalemate of the

race to the sea and the indecisive result of the First Battle of praise.

In the week leading up to December 25th, French, German,

and British soldiers cross trenches to exchange seasonal greeting and talk.

In some areas, men from both sides ventured into no man's land on Christmas

Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs.

There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, while several meetings ended in caroling.

I'm sharing this historical story.

Account to you between the German forces and the Allied forces in World War

I to illustrate that two warring factions can come together in peace.

In Christ Jesus, there was not just a truce between Jew and Gentile in Jesus

Christ, but the peace between both sides will last forever because our peace

is not based on us as sinful humans.

Christ Himself is our peace, and He is eternal God. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we are grateful that You are Lord, and You are Savior,

and You are the Most High, Jesus Christ, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one God.

Thank You. Thank You for loving us so much that you sent your Son,

Jesus Christ, to die on the cross and be the blood sacrifice on our behalf so

we all didn't die. Thank you for that.

Lord, we pray today, Lord, that you would teach us your Word,

work in us, use us, strengthen us to follow you and abide in your love.

In your precious Son's name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Turn with me today to Ephesians 2, verse 14-16.

Ephesians 2:14–16

For He Himself is our peace, who

made both groups one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition,

by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, the law of commandments contained in ordinances,

so that in Himself He might create the two into one new man,

making peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross,

having in Himself put to death the enmity.

Last time in Ephesians 2, the Lord through Paul taught the Ephesian congregation

and subsequently us as well, that

all those who were non-Jews, who were not included in the covenants of God's

promises, were far off from God and were aliens and those who did not belong to the kingdom of God.

But in Christ, because of the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross,

all those who believe in Jesus Christ as Yahweh Lord have been brought near to God.

And today in Ephesians 2, verse 14, there are three overarching truths that

Ephesians 2:14

I would like to point out to you.

The first point that I want to show you is that Christ Himself is our peace.

According to the History Channel, in 1961, the Berlin Wall or the Iron Curtain

was erected to separate the democratic West Berlin and Germany and the Soviet-controlled

East Berlin and Germany.

The wall was 11 to 13 feet tall, 4 feet thick, and spanned close to 100 miles.

The wall was guarded by barbed wire, more than 300 sentry towers with machine

guns patrolling soldiers and dogs.

The Iron Curtain was designed to keep people from East Germany from coming into

West Germany in order to prevent Soviet invasion.

However, the wall separated families and friends, and when the wall was finally

demolished in June 13, 1990, there

was a huge celebration to rejoice the reuniting of family and friends.

The story of the Berlin Wall is similar to the wall of sin between us and God

before Christ died, except no one ever got through over to God's side.

Also, just as the people on the east side of Berlin Wall were separated from

those on the west side, So, also, before Christ's death and resurrection,

Gentile believers in God were separated from oneness with the Jewish believers in God.

Paul proclaimed in Ephesians 2, verse 14 to 16, For he himself is our peace,

Ephesians 2:14–16

who made both groups one, and broke down the dividing wall of the partition.

As we begin looking at this passage, it is important for us to realize that

the Jewish people had been set apart from the other nations of the world by

God through his law and through the covenants that he made with his people Israel.

Last time that we studied Ephesians

2, we looked at the importance of circumcision to Israel and to God.

Circumcision was a symbol of God's chosen people being set apart and made holy

and dedicated solely for God's purposes and for God's glory.

Israel being set apart unto God and not intermarrying with other nations and

eating the same foods and all the worship and sacrificial laws were in great

part designed to keep Israel centered on being God's people and being radically

different from the rest of the world.

However, God never designed Israel to be completely cut off from the other nations.

And what I mean by this is that Israel was always designed to be a light to

the non-Israelite nations to demonstrate the glory and greatness of God.

Israel and their sin took pride in their position as the chosen people,

especially by the time of Jesus and the apostles.

The Jews also desperately did not want to incur the wrath of God like what happened

in the Babylonian captivity.

Part of the reason why God sent the Assyrians and the Babylonians upon Israel

was because they disobeyed God and intermarried into the cultures around them,

worshipped those cultures' gods, and took on their cultural practices.

So as a response, the Pharisees of Jesus' and the apostles' time period placed

even more rules upon Israel to keep them from disobeying God even more.

The result was even further distancing themselves from other nations.

The typical Jew was not allowed to go into the Gentiles' home or eat with a Gentile,

nor were they allowed to go into a Roman place of business or even into the

governor's palace during Passover like what happened when the Jewish Sanhedrin

were trying to get Pontius Pilate to execute Jesus.

On the opposite hand, the non-Jewish people resented the Jews culturally because

of the cultural and religious isolation of the Jews.

And this is part of the background to the situation with the Jewish and Gentile

Christians and their relationships in the congregations that Paul and the apostles had planted.

And thus Paul in Ephesians 2, verse 14, instructed the Ephesian Jewish Christians

Ephesians 2:14

and non-Jewish Christians that Jesus Christ is their peace.

He is the one who has reconciled them and has already happened.

The word that Paul used for peace referred to a state of concord, peace.

And harmony, and personal relationships between people who are enemies of each other.

This word strongly implied that there has been a reconciliation between these two groups.

As Paul explained in verse 14, that the reconciliation happened because Jesus

the Christ made both groups one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition.

According to one commentator from Dallas Theological Seminary,

the wall of separation that Paul was writing to the Ephesians about alludes

to a wall in the temple that partitioned off the court of the Gentiles from

the areas accessible only to Jews.

Paul referred to that wall as symbolic of the social, religious,

and spiritual separation that kept Jews and Gentiles apart.

I want to impress upon you just how serious the Jewish leadership took the separation

between God's chosen people, Israel, and the Gentiles.

There were signs on that partition wall in the temple on the Gentile court side

in both Latin and Greek that if anyone were to disobey and go past this wall,

they would do so on the pain of death.

Yet Paul was teaching the Ephesian congregation that there are no longer are

Gentile believers in Christ that are excluded from the nation of Israel and

the covenant promises of God.

Paul explained this further in Galatians chapter 3, verse 26 to 29.

Galatians 3:26–29

"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who

were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man.

There is no male or female.

For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise."

I want to point out here in Galatians chapter 3 that God no longer views the

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

separation between Jew and Gentile, but rather God sees the two groups as one

united in faith under the Lordship of Jesus Christ as Yahweh God.

More than just seeing the two groups as one, Paul explained that through faith

in Jesus Christ and belonging to Jesus Christ, the Gentile believers now partake

in the covenant promises that were at one time solely directed towards Israel.

What then can we as believers in Christ learn from verse 14?

Since God in Christ has made Jew and Gentile believers one being in Christ,

and Christ is now our peace, then we are to live in the peace-filled oneness

of Christ with all believers in Christ.

The Christians of Paul's time were putting up their cultural beliefs,

their dietary practices, and even religious laws from their former religions

as barriers to true fellowship and oneness in Christ.

In our church here in Dillingham, we do not have Christians of Jewish descent,

but we do have believers of several different nationalities and people groups.

Here at Dillingham Arabian Church, I believe that we're doing well in being

one in Christ, and we're growing in fellowship with each other.

Yet we can always grow closer, can't we?

Within our church, the different cultures represented here often eat different

foods, hold different cultural practices.

And many of those practices are really good and useful. Of course, the food is great.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we give up our cultural practices.

There's also a whole bunch of different Christian denominations and movements

represented in our congregation with different understandings of church structure

and how church should be governed, or even different non-core doctrines that some hold strongly to.

No one is intentionally trying to be divisive or unloving,

but cultural ways and different church practices that are good in

and of themselves can sometimes be barriers to true fellowship in Christ if

we're putting them above loving Christ and loving each other in Christ.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about core Christian doctrine.

We must stay firm on the key teachings of our faith.

Yet many churches and Christians have divided over cultural practices or church

traditions or even silly things like church carpet. And that's happened!!

This is something that we need to be aware about and praying about as we seek

to have true fellowship with one another in Christ's church.

So far, Paul taught the Ephesian congregation that Christ himself is the church of Christ's peace.

Christ has broken down the dividing wall between Israelite believers and the

Gentile believers and has made them into one new being in Christ.

The question is, what was it that truly divided Israel from the rest of the nations.

Paul went on to explain that the dividing wall was the law contained in ordinances.

I was cleaning in our kitchen this last week, and I found a package of sidewalk paint.

Now, when my five-year-old Paul saw this sidewalk paint, he really wanted to

use it right then and there.

But I told him that we need to wait till spring to use it, when there wasn't

any snow or ice on the ground.

However, little Paul, in typical five-year-old fashion, demanded that he want to use it right now.

My point is, is that for two or more years, that canister or sidewalk paint

was in the kitchen and was hidden high up where little Paul could not see it.

And since Paul couldn't see the canister, he didn't want to use it.

It was not until Paul found out about the paint and was told that he could not

use it that he so desperately wanted to use it.

This is how sin has affected the law of God. God has given His law to His people

to teach His people about sin and to teach His people what is right and what

is evil before our holy God.

However, when God commands us what to do or not, we as humans,

we can know what is right to do.

Sin in our human flesh rebels against the law to tempt us to rebel against God and to do what is evil.

Ephesians 2.14-16,"For he himself is our peace, who made both groups one and

broke down the dividing wall of the partition.

Here's where we are now. Verse 15, By abolishing in his flesh the enmity the

law of the commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might

create the two into one new man,

making peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross,

having in Himself put to death the enmity."

I want you to see that Paul taught the Ephesians that Christ broke down the

wall of separation between Jew and Gentile Christ believers.

Christ did so by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, the law contained in ordinances.

The question is, what was Paul getting at when he referred to the enmity,

the law contained in ordinances?

What Jesus did through His death on the cross, and His own broken body bleeding

from the spear wound on His side and other wounds, was to fulfill the sacrificial

and ceremonial laws that had to do with atonement for sin.

The word that Paul used for enmity meant hostility, a state of deep-seated ill will.

And at that point in Ephesians, Paul was not focusing on the state of hostility

between God and humanity, although Christ definitely dealt with that on the

cross, but rather the hostility between Jew and the non-Jewish world.

You see, it was the sacrificial and ceremonial and feasts of God's law that

pertained to atonement that separated the Jew and Gentile.

However, it's essential that we understand that the law itself was not evil.

God created the law for his people to be aware of their sins and to keep Israel

holy and separate unto God.

The law wasn't the true underlying problem. Sin was.

Sin is the true barrier of hostility between God and humanity,

between God's people and the world's people.

Sin itself is the state of hostility.

God's people could not keep the whole law because they couldn't stop sinning.

And in their sin, they wanted what God told them they couldn't have.

And they wanted to do what God didn't tell them to do.

As my illustration with my five-year-old Paul brought out.

More than that, Israel could not pay the atonement price for their sins with all of their lifeblood.

Sin needed to be dealt with, but we as human beings could not deal with it on our own.

The writer of the letter of Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 10, verses 10-18,

Hebrews 10:10–18

By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

Every priest standing stands daily ministering, offering time after time the

same sacrifices which can never take away sins.

But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins, for all time sat down at the

right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet.

For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us. For after saying, this is the covenant

that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my laws upon their heart and their mind, and I will write them.

He says, and he then says, verse 17, and their sins and their lawless deeds

I will remember no more. And this is crucial.

Now, where there is forgiveness of these things, there's no longer any offering for sin.

I also want to impress upon you that all of God's law was not abolished or done

away with because much of the law has to do with the character of who God is

and who we are in response to God and how to live holy lives apart for Him.

God did not abolish the moral law of God. In Christ,

we have now learned of our human inability to be holy and obey God on our own

and thus showing us our desperate need to rely on the Holy Spirit's power through

faith in the grace of God.

What Paul was teaching in Ephesians 2, 15-16 is that it was sin.

That was the reason for God to have His sacrificial atonement laws in the first place.

Christ's atonement on the cross for our sins took away the need for God's sacrificial laws.

It was the sacrifices and dietary and cleansing ordinances within the sacrificial

laws which caused God's people to be separated from nations.

And thus, in Christ, we are united into one people, one nation of God,

one being in Christ and in His church.

God in Christ has created something new from two warring factions,

one bride of Christ, the church, saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

We have been reconciled to God in Jesus Christ and been made new creations as

individual Christians, but we've also been made corporately into new creations.

We are now one creation in Christ.

God sees us as individuals, but He also sees us as one in Christ,

as this new entity, the bride of Christ, the church.

There are two ways that we can apply what we've learned in verses 15 to 16.

The first application is we must realize that the true barrier to disunity in the church is sin.

And we could not and still cannot take down that barrier without the grace of God.

It is true that Christ has broken down the barrier wall between us and God,

and we are no longer separated from Him.

It is true that Christ has removed the need for the sacrificial and ceremonial

laws that once divided Jew and Gentile.

It is true that we are now saved by the grace of God, justified by faith in Jesus Christ.

Yet the sin problem has not been fully destroyed.

We still sin. We still desire to do the opposite of what God has commanded us to do.

The very heart of sin is self-focus.

To do what we think is best rather than what God thinks is best.

And today in the church, we still have that sin issue, and that sin issue still divides.

But I want to encourage you today that faith in Christ Jesus as our only Lord

Yahweh God, centered on the truths of His holy word, the Bible,

is the answer and the way to true unity with Christ and with each other in the church.

We, you and I, must realize that Christ died for us to be one in Him and one with each other.

The cost for our unity in Christ was the highest anyone in the universe has ever paid.

Please let us cling to faith in Christ Jesus as we obey His Word together.

The second way that we can apply these verses is by realizing that we are not

just individuals to God, but one creation in the sight of our holy and living God.

In our culture today, we have been inundated with individualism,

which is simply the belief that individuals are independent,

self-reliant, and can do what they want to do,

and don't have to listen to the government or larger entities telling them what to do.

Yes, we are individually and personally loved and valued by God,

but our value to God doesn't come from ourselves, but from God who created us,

and through Christ's death and resurrection on our behalf.

As Christ Church, we are interdependent.

We are not independent.

Interdependent on God together. We are not self-reliant.

We are in reality totally reliant on God whether we realize it or not.

We definitely do have to do what God commands us in His Word to do.

We belong fully to Christ and in Christ to each other. We are one.

In our passage today, God has taught us two timeless truths that we can apply to us today.

The first truth that we have learned is that Christ, our peace,

has made Jew and Gentile believers one being in Christ.

Secondly, we have learned that Christ's atonement on the cross took away the

need for God's sacrificial laws, which separated God-fearers among nations from Israel.

Now in Christ, through His sacrificial death, we, you and I,

are united into one being in the church.

I want to strongly encourage you that although Satan and his forces are strong,

and the temptations and desires of our sin-affected flesh can be powerfully attractive.

Satan and sin's control over us has been overcome by the blood sacrifice and

resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, there are many things that can divide us, if we let them.

But the most powerful force in the universe will keep us united in Christ.

Christ Himself, Almighty Lord, who has complete dominion over all creation, is our peace.

Cling to Christ. Cling to the truths of Christ's Word, the Bible,

and with faith in Christ, obey His Word.

Christ is the glue that keeps us together as we abide in Christ together.

Let us pray. Father, we are so blessed.

Blessed that You have made us one in Christ. You have made us one and brought

us into unity with God through

your Son's death on the cross and His resurrection. Thank you, Lord.

Thank you that we are now at one with each other in the church.

And I pray for our church and for all Bible-believing churches everywhere that

we will not break unity with you and with each other, Lord.

May we trust in your Word. May we obey your Word. And may we walk according to your ways together.

In your precious Son's name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Have a wonderful Sunday. And may the Lord bless you.