Peace with God and Man through Christ’s Lordship
By Pastor Matt Black
17
December 2006
Lord's Day morning
Ephesians 2:14
Open your Bibles to Ephesians 2, and let’s read verses 11-22. The title of this morning’s message is “Peace with God and Man through Christ’s Lordship”.
[Read Ephesians 2:11-22].
We will be looking specifically today at Ephesians 2:14, “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us…”
Introduction: During this season of Christ’s coming into the world, we think of the promise of His birth in Luke 2:14, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Christ’s coming began a massive battle in this world to bring peace on earth—Christ is at this very moment subduing the earth. Now if you are saved you know about this. Christ has changed your relationship with Him and with others.
You see, there are two kinds of results when a person comes to know Jesus Christ. Of course our relationship with God is forever changed. But also, our relationship with other people is changed. This is true whether it’s your relationship to other believers or your relationship to the world.
Logically and theologically, we have to talk about the change in our relationship with God first. It is out of peace with God that we can have peace with men.
Where ever salvation is occurred, we can be reconciled with people. That is what happens. If we have the mind of Christ we can be of “one accord” and of “one mind”.
Peace between people
Paul must
have marveled at the great unity that was in the Ephesian church. There
was a massive division between Jews and Gentiles in his day. Paul was a
Jew and he knew the deep division from all sides. There was cultural
division, social division, and spiritual division. Historically, this is
a division that had existed as long as
But now you have both Jew and Gentile together, worshipping the same God, bowing their knee to the same Lord, and loving each other. How did this happen? Through Jesus Christ!
Where ever it is that God has wrought salvation, there is a change in the way that we view everything—in the way that we view God, in the way that we view ourselves, and in the way that we view others. This is an evidence of genuine Christianity. If what you call Christianity doesn’t change the way you see other people, then what you have is not the real thing. When ever Christ enters the heart of a person, true peace is both a reality and a continuing possibility.
One of the greatest tests of your Christianity is how you think. Do you think in step with the world’s ideology—or do you think in step with the Scriptures? Does the Bible teach that we can have peace if we will just sit down and talk about it?
“Peace among People”
God tells us in these verses how we can have a real and abiding peace among people—peace in an individual’s life, peace in marriages, in families, and friendships, and one day when Christ splits the clouds and sets foot on this earth Christ will conquer all enemies and there will be peace in this world.
How does God establish this peace? Outline:
How does God establish this peace?
I. First, by the Lordship of Christ. Vs. 13-14 “He himself is our peace” This is in the emphatic tense. Jesus ALONE is the only source of peace in the universe. That statement right there would startle our world. The only way there can be peace in the world among people is through Jesus Christ. He himself is our peace.
It is not simply that Christ gives peace, or that He makes peace—He IS our peace. Jesus Christ IS our peace! Unless you have been joined to God in a vital way, unless you have been grafted into Christ—unless you share His very life, there is no peace. True peace is available to all people, but you must be in Christ to have this peace. As John 3:36 says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”.
How does this work out in our practical experience?
Let’s ask ourselves a few questions to understand.
A. Where does conflict in the world come from? This goes far beyond
We see divorces, and upset children, parents arguing over their kids, families divided and friends divided. What’s the source of all of this? Where does it come from? Perhaps you are here and even this morning, there is great conflict in your own life.
Maybe you lack inward peace. Perhaps there’s conflict that right now is raging in your own heart and mind. Maybe right now there is sitting someone here this morning and you are having trouble in your marriage, or with a friend, or with a fellow believer. There might be anger or hurt or even ongoing bitterness.
Where does all this come from? The answer is simple: all
people are sinners. Only the end of sin will see the end of all
hostilities. And the very essence of sin—at its very core of sin is
that God has been dethroned from the human heart.
In fact, one of the megathemes that emerges repeatedly in Scripture is that our battles here on
earth are merely a reflection of a cosmic war between the
From a reality standpoint, we know that God is never dethroned. He has always been and will always be Lord of all. But from the standpoint of the individual who does not know the Lord, who is natural. From their standpoint—how they live their life, how they think, what their goals and ambitions are, and where they find their pleasure—God has been dethroned. It all goes back to Adam’s sin and Eve’s sin in the garden. We were all born predisposed that we all buy into the lie—the lie that was put forth in the garden and the lie that has been promoted ever since is “You can be like God!” You can be in control of your own life! You can be your own god! The one who is in control of all things is God. We are born thinking that we can control our own destiny. Self is at the center. We live to please ourselves. We live according to what is right in our own sight. This is what causes the conflict. James said it this way in James 4:1-3, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts”.
James lays it out right here—
1. The self-life is full of war-waging pleasures. If your chief pleasure and joy is not found in God, and the chief goal of your life is not the advancement of His glory, then what are you living for? What you are living for is the advancement of self—what will make you happy, what will fulfill you, what will give you the most happiness. So the whole world is made up of sinners acting as gods—controllers of their own destinies—waging war one against the other. What you want may conflict with what someone else wants, and so you are in conflict one with another. That’s where wars and fightings come from—they come from men and women, boys and girls who have deified themselves—waging war, so that they might have the control and be masters of their own pleasure. And even when they get along, it is because they think they are advancing what they want.
2. The self life is God-less. Men and women all around the world are sustained by the life and breath of God, but they never call upon God. And even when there is a form of religion, when people do ask, he says most prayers don’t get answered because the center of the prayer is self and not God. The motive is totally man-centered—to “consume it upon your lusts.” Where there is a form of religion in the world, it is religion for the advancement of self! It is religion so that you can get what you want, whether it be an eased conscience or praise of men. It is not for the advancement of the glory of God—man is still at the center it all! That is why there is conflict and war. No rest. God is absent from all of this!
The only hope for any of this to change is salvation. The only way the people can change is that they themselves must be changed by God in salvation. They must relinquish the control of their lives in absolute surrender to God. That is where peace is found!
B. How is peace possible through the Lordship of Christ? God took us out of the realm of death and dominion of sin. He’s taken us “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:8). He has delivered us from “the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). Our citizenship is in a new location. Our affections and our love are set on things above. And where ever this new love and new life exists—there is a new Lord! Our peace comes directly from the Lordship of Jesus Christ!! No longer do we fight and war, but the whole orientation of our lives has changed. In our lost condition, our whole lives were centered around us. No longer is self at the center of the life, but Christ is at the center. Christ has control, and where Christ is submitted to, there is peace!
Some of you think that you can have Christ and not have His Lordship. If you think you can show up on a Sunday morning and add Jesus to a life where you’re at the center Monday through Saturday—you have to have your touch of church to ease your conscience—if that is you, you have yet to understand what genuine Christianity is! When someone is saved, Christ is not added to the life, Christ is the life! His Lordship and control dominates! He is at the center of the life! Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Paul says—I’m not living for myself any more. I’m not in control. My control was crucified with Christ—the old self—who I was in Adam has been crucified with Christ. He has total control. I now live by the faith of the Son of God. I look to His control! He dominates my mind, my heart, and my will! I live!! I live in His Lordship! There is the Christian life. “the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God”. Every day with Christ as the center—the issue is no longer what I want but what Christ wants!
“He is our peace” How does God establish this peace? First, by the Lordship of Christ.
II. Second, by the Love of Christ. Verses 14-15 say that “he is our peace, who hath made both one …“ Christ can bring harmony in our relationships. He can make us one!
A. The Love of Christ in us produces love for our brethren. Christ makes us one with other sinners. We are made one—both put under the Lordship of Christ. And now we have new goals. Our goal is not to please ourselves, but to please Christ. To love Him! And that love extends first of all to our brethren. Others who have been brought under the sovereign control of the Lord Jesus Christ. We live for Him! We love Him!
You see, when a person comes to know Christ, there is a massive change in our relationships with other people. In fact, this is one of the major ways that people know that we are Christians. Christ said in John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
B. The Love of Christ in us produces love for our enemies. Matthew 5:44, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”. Turn over to Luke 6:27-36. This passage should settle all doubts as to conflicts in our lives. If Christ is our peace, we will return good for evil and take the wrong! There is no equivocation in this passage. Let’s read here in Luke 6:27-36, “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, 28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. 29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. 30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. 31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. 32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. 33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. 34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. 36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”
We should not just love our brethren, but we should go to the far end of the spectrum, and love those who show malice to us. Those who steal from us and do evil from us!
You see now that we are in Christ, for the first time we can love those who hate us. It’s not about us, it’s about God. Our life is no longer centered around ourselves. Our life is Christ. We want to please our new Lord. We now for the first time live for the glory of God and for the good of others! The main issue is not how people treat us—the main issue is that they need Christ!
On behalf of the Lord, we want to love His people, because He loves them! And on behalf of the Lord, we want to love the lost, because they need Him! So we’re not at the center when it comes to our relationship with other people. Only when Christ is Lord can their be peace in your relationships. Only when Christ is Lord can you love others for His glory and for the good of others! You see your pleasures will always conflict with someone else’s pleasures, but when Christ is at the center, the war can go away, because you have one goal—WHAT PLEASES CHRIST?!!!
“He is our peace” How does God establish this peace? First, by the Lordship of Christ. Second, by the Love of Christ, and…
III. Thirdly, by the Light of Christ. When a person comes under the Lordship of Christ, He sees this lost world in a new light! Christ is all about tearing down those distinction in the lost world. The barriers and fences of my control and your control and putting every one under His control Think about the distinctions in this lost world.
In the lost world, among people who have not experienced the new birth, earthly distinctions matter.
· In the our culture matters.
· Male and female matters
· Rich and poor—your social standing matters
· Educated or non-educated
· What title do you hold?
· Are you a Jew or a Gentile?
· What position you hold is important in the world system
· What family did you come from?
But you will know whether you are being pushed into the world’s mold or whether you are being transformed by the renewing of your mind by this—does it still matter to you as a believer.
You see what you find in Christ is that all those old earthly distinctions of the lost world don’t really matter! Galatians 3:27-28 says it well, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
As Christians, there is only one distinction! Are you lost or are you saved? We realize all other distinctions are temporal. It ought to trouble you if you say you have the mind of Christ, and yet you are caught up in all the fleshly distinctions of this lost world.
Paul was clear what he thought about it in 2 Corinthians 5:16-17, “Wherefore henceforth [SINCE WE’VE BEEN SAVED] know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. [PAUL SAYS, THERE WAS A TIME WHEN I SAW JESUS, I JUST SAW HIM IN TERMS OF A MAN, BUT NOW I REALIZE HE IS LORD] 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
We are new in Christ—He is our peace! The distinctions in this world don’t matter any more.
How did Christ do this? Let’s read our text again in Ephesians 2:14-15, “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Our text says that God has made both groups here, both Jew and Gentile, to be one in Christ. Now this distinction doesn’t mean much to us today, but it was massive in the ancient world! Jews saw Gentiles as dogs! If a Jew saw a Gentile mother giving birth, they could not help that young mother because they did not want to help bring another Gentile dog into the world. Talk about conflict!
Even in Christ’s day, in the
· The Holy of Holies. Outside of that was that was:
· The court of the preists
· Then there was the court of Jewish men
· The court of Jewish women
· On the very outside there was a five foot wall where you had the court of the Gentiles. They could not pass that wall or they would be put to death. There were signs that said this in Greek and Latin.
By the time Jesus walked this earth, the court of the Gentiles was being used as a “den of thieves” (Mark 11:17). That’s how much disrespect the Jews had for the Gentiles.
When Christ died, he destroyed that wall of
distinction! You see there was a false distinction at this time.
The point God was making in the
Neither the Jews or the Gentiles could approach God on their own. The Jew was certainly closer because he had the Word of God, he had the promises of God, but those promises were not applied for the majority of the Jews. Most of them lived and died in self-righteousness and in unbelief. They had a spirit of slumber!
But friend in Christ, all the walls of division have been torn down! Verse 14, Christ “is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;”!
Conclusion: Friend, is there conflict in your life today? Are you angry with someone? Is there division among you? Are you angry with God?
Friend, you cannot fight against a sovereign God. God has demonstrated His love to you. Christ has taken down all barriers. Christ is our Peace! He is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Every knee shall bow to His sovereign rule. He will bring peace to the earth. Are you in right relation with God? Do you have favor with God and man? Or is there a middle wall of partition between. Turn to Christ! He is our peace!!!
Closing Hymn: 639 Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus