I want you to look around the room of your relational community for a minute. This might be your friends and family. This might be your gospel community. This might be your church family. This might be the leadership team you serve on. And as you picture this room I want you to envision who’s in the room.
I want you to think about who should be in the room and who you think will never be in the room. Who’s in the room right now? Who do you want to be in the room right now? Who do you think will never be in the room of your relational community?
I’ll be 40 years old in just a few weeks. My life is probably at least half over. And over the years the contours of my relational rooms have changed. I spent a lot of time in a broken family room. I spent some years in a rebellious teenager room. I spent a few years in a violent and dangerous, drug dealing, main drag cruising, beer drinking, biker room.
And by God’s grace, I’ve spent almost 18 years in a room full of Christians with nearly 15 of those years spent in a room full of pastors and church planters and ministry leaders. And one of the things that floors me is the many times that I’m standing in a room with people that I thought I would never be in the same room with.
Have you ever stopped to let that reality sink in as it pertains to the body of Christ? Look around the room right now. Did you ever think that in a million years you would be in this room with these people right now? Who do you wish was here right now and who would shock you if they walked in right now?
I look around the room of our church family after 5 years of planting this church and I’m honestly really shocked. I never in a million years thought this room would be full of you people. And I’m not saying that in a condescending way or anything like that. I’m saying that with a tone of utter surprise and humility.
From the get go, I envisioned a room full of different people but God removed my preconceptions or misconceptions of who would be in the room of our church family. I look around the room and I see many of you that I didn’t know 5 years ago and I think of what a gift you are.
Some of you are now close neighbors and some of you have moved into Hastings to help plant this church. Some of you I’m just getting to know and some of you (very few of you) I’ve known for over 5 years. And by God’s grace many of us have walked through hell and high water together.
And if we’re honest with each another, we weren’t seeking each other out for friendship 5 years ago. The Lord just did what he does when he broke down whatever barriers might have existed previously and here we are in the same room together, worshiping the same God together and proclaiming the same hope together.
That’s exactly what the message of the cross of Christ is all about. The cross of Christ provides vertical peace between God and us and then it creates horizontal peace between believers. Paul says it this way…
Ephesians 2:14 – 18…
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
The key theme in this passage is peace. In the message of the gospel, the cross of Christ provides vertical peace between God and us and then it creates horizontal peace between believers.
Paul uses the word peace four times in our text and all of his phrases in this passage are either synonymous or contrasting ways of describing peace. Paul uses all of this language and all of these words to paint the picture of peace so that we can grasp the gravity of what the gospel of peace is and does.
#1. Where does true peace come from?
Oftentimes when I’m struggling through an intense season of conflict or fear or insecurity, I begin to desire peace amidst the storm. When I feel like the ship of my relational life is on shaky ground I begin to desire the calming effect of a peaceful presence.
And when I begin to wrestle with these emotions and these desires I begin to feel a little bit like the disciples on the boat in the midst of the storm with Jesus sleeping down below. And I begin to wonder where Jesus is in the midst of my struggle and I begin to wonder whether or not Jesus is going to calm the waves of the storm.
The Ephesian church was facing storms on various different levels. Scholars comment that the Ephesian church was a ragtag bunch of people from various different social, ethnic and religious backgrounds. It was a melting pot of different values, different experiences and different deeply held belief systems.
In many ways the Ephesian church was a recipe for some of the greatest relational storms you and I could ever imagine. The most tumultuous dividing line in the Ephesian church was religious and ethnic in nature. Think of the picture of a man and a woman from different ethnic backgrounds with different religious upbringings.
The Jews were Jewish in ethnicity and they were staunch in their deeply held conservative religious practices. And the Gentiles were a mixed bunch of ethnicity and they were accustomed to what might appear to be a more liberal set of religious values. This was a recipe for all out war among people.
The segregation between ethnic and religious groups can be some of the most destructive dividing lines ever. We see this historically throughout the world and we see it in our country right now with racial and ethnic conflict rising to some of the most destructive and painful levels we’ve seen in years.
Whenever I hear that another shooter has killed people or that another driver has driven his car into a crowd or that another group of people has attacked another group of people or that another marriage is falling apart or another friendship is on the rocks, I begin to feel that tightening in my chest that indicates the anxiety I experience when there is no peace.
And when I feel that lack of peace I begin to ask, where does authentic peace come from. And Paul says that Jesus himself is our peace. Jesus is the embodiment of peace. He is the Prince of Peace. Jesus is the one who gives us peace that surpasses our understanding. Authentic peace comes from Jesus because he is peace.
2. What is the effect of experiencing true peace?
What happens in the life of someone who has experienced peace with God? When you and I begin to follow Jesus he gives us true peace between one another. This is one of the effects of experiencing true peace. This is why Paul says that Jesus has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. Christ’s work at the cross removes ethnic and religious and relational hostility.
The gospel of Jesus unites us together in peace and harmony. That person sitting across the room from you today is there because the gospel of peace unites us. Those people in that church across town that look and act and worship differently than us are part of us and are united to us in the gospel of peace.
The person that you think will never cross the doorstep of this church may be here in a year because of the gospel of peace. The effect of experiencing true peace in the person and the work of Jesus Christ is unity because Jesus broke down the dividing wall of hostility that divides us.
The dividing wall of hostility that Christ broke down in his flesh on the cross was the law of commandments that was expressed in ordinances. Ordinances are man-made laws. In the Jewish temple the dividing wall of hostility was an actual man-made wall that divided the Jewish worshipers from the Gentile worshipers. They were segregated and separated.
There was a front room for privileged people and a back room for second-rate people. No Gentile worshiper was allowed into the special place of the worshiping Jews. The Jews were privileged and the Gentiles were not. But Jesus destroyed all of this when he died on the cross to unite people together through the gospel of peace.
Jesus didn’t die on the cross for one special group of people from one special ethnic or religious background. Jesus died at the cross for people from every tribe, every tongue and every nation. A church that lives at war with one another or lives at war with other churches has yet to experience the gospel of true peace in Christ Jesus.
3. How are people united in the gospel of peace?
It’s not just that Christ’s work at the cross unites people from different backgrounds it actually has creative power. Unity is not something that can be contrived it must created and it must be created by someone who isn’t broken. And that unbroken person is Jesus.
The gospel doesn’t just draw people together it also creates new people in one place. That’s how people move across dividing lines of hostility and become united together as family.
Paul says that Christ broke down the barriers of hostility through his work at the cross so that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace. True peace is found in Christ and it’s expressed, not in a religious practice of segregation but in a religious practice of desegregation and unity that comes through the creation of brand new people by a perfect Savior at the cross.
Some people think that we can somehow pursue reconciliation with one another without experiencing peace first. In other words, some people believe that the pursuit of reconciliation will produce true peace. But I would argue that what the world needs the most is to first experience true peace and then reconciliation will flow out of that.
And true peace begins with knowing the person who is Peace. This is why Paul says that Jesus is our peace and that he has broken down the walls or barriers of religious and ethnic hostility so that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two so that the one new man might be reconciled to God in one body through the cross. This is a picture of Christ making all things new.
As you and I are reconciled to God through the work of Christ at the cross the hostility between God and us is killed and the hostility that once existed between you and I is put to death. We become new creations in Christ Jesus. The old life of separation from one another passes away and the new life of belonging to one another begins.
Experiencing peace on the horizontal level with other people is a result of experiencing peace on the vertical level with God. Broken marriages. Broken friendships. Shattered families. Divided ethnicity. All of these become reconciled as people become new creations in Christ Jesus together. This is why Paul says that Jesus preached peace to those who were far off and to those who were near.
The Gentiles were considered as being far off from God and the Jews were considered as being near to God. But Christ preached peace to each party so that they could become reconciled to God and then reconciled to one another so that they could become one new body.
Think about it, one new family, one new creation, one new person together. This is a massive benefit of experiencing true peace. But, it’s not the biggest benefit of experiencing true peace.
4. What is the biggest benefit of experiencing true peace?
In some regards this is the conversation we’ve been having all along. We’ve been looking at the benefits of experiencing true peace that are found only in Christ Jesus. But Paul wants to describe one final benefit of experiencing true peace and I would argue that it’s the biggest benefit of all.
Racial and ethnic and relational reconciliation is really important and it’s a massive benefit of experiencing true peace in Christ Jesus. But the biggest benefit of experiencing true peace in Christ is the truth that we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
You see, you and I were once like Fatherless children. We were orphans. Can you imagine what that’s like? Some of you can. And can you imagine the excitement of one of us coming in as a fatherless child one day and proclaiming that we are no longer fatherless? That would be amazing!
But Paul takes it a step further and he basically says “hey it’s not just that one of you has found a father and are no longer fatherless, but both of you have been found by the same father and you now have equal access to him together.” In the words of one commentator this passage is like the picture of a white father with both a white baby and a black baby in his arms.
Fatherless people who once were separated from each other by the sickening division of racial and ethnic and religious division are now brought together and given the same access to the same loving Father through the work of Christ Jesus at the cross.
Conclusion…
What does this truth do to your heart when you ask these questions again? Who’s in the room of your relational community right now? Who do you wish was in the room of your relational community right now? Who do you think will never be in the room of your relational community?
I got to experience this passage come to life for me this last week in some really unexpected ways. On Tuesday night I was in a room with a bunch of other pastors and ministry leaders as we worshipped and prayed and dreamed of what we could do together to proclaim the gospel of peace so that those who are far off from our Father in Heaven could have access to our Father’s love with us.
In that room there were men and women that I never thought I’d worship with this side of Heaven. One man in particular is a pastor that at one time was like an enemy. We had a disagreement and a falling out that I thought was irreparable this side of Heaven.
When our eyes met we both smiled and moved towards each other and we embraced in a hug and then we engaged in a conversation over what the Lord had been doing in our community through each other’s ministries. And then we worshiped together and we prayed together in tears over our community. This was such a tangible experience of the peace of heaven on Earth.
But then, later in the week I was at a school sports event and I saw another old friend who hasn’t spoken to me in years due to a disagreement. My heart leaped when I saw him. He walked up the steps towards me and as our eyes met he looked away and he turned around and he sat down three seats in front of me.
This was someone that I always thought would be in the room with me. Someone I thought I would never be separated from. Someone I thought I would always worship with. And here in this public space the sadness of our current reality set in and I realized that maybe reconciliation this side of Heaven won’t happen.
Where do you find peace in those moments? Where do you find peace when you realize that something is broken beyond your ability to fix? Where do you find peace when restoration doesn’t happen right now? Where do you find peace when you experience the pain of separation?
I have to admit that living in this tension of things that are unreconciled while struggling to believe that things will be reconciled one day is one of my biggest struggles. It’s hard to take this text and believe it at face value and put it into action.
But I do know this. Christ is our peace my friends. In Jesus we have true peace. And Jesus is the one who creates peace between enemies. And Jesus has promised to make all things new one day in the new Heavens and the new Earth. The only way I can live in true peace in the midst of brokenness is to believe that Jesus is my peace who helps me to live at peace even when things don’t make sense.
When you realize that your peace is found in Christ alone at the foot of the cross alone whereby you can fall into the Father’s arms alone then you can start moving towards others so that they can sense the same peace in the arms of our Father alone. The cross of Christ provides vertical peace between God and us and then it creates horizontal peace between believers. The question for us is this… do you believe this?