Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from Eph. 2. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- You probably all remember the nursery rhyme about “Humpty Dumpty.” You remember, he was the egg character that fell off the wall and “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”
- There are times that we feel like Humpty Dumpty – things have gone awry in our lives and pressures and aggression are being forced upon us and we feel like we just don’t have the resources left to defend ourselves or to carry on. When our detractors and enemies have left us trampled and helpless we feel that we can scarcely be “put back together again” – and it is true that we will never be the same.
- The same is true of relationships – and often the souring and loss of one relationship impacts many others. It starts out with just one conflict but soon it has spread to what feels like open warfare. And in our personal lives it often seems that there is little organization or rhyme and reason to any of it. Everything seems to have come unglued.
- We recognize that this is not how things have to be or the way that things ought to be. We recognize the danger, the discomfort, the disconcerting and disorientating nature of conflict – and we know that this is not good. Sometimes we can manage it. Sometimes we are wary that it is getting out of control. And sometimes it simply overwhelms us.
- The source of all of this is sin – our own sin, and the sin of others. It is sin that separates human beings and creates hostility – our own greed, selfishness, pride, and lusts, as well as the negative impact that these same sins of others inflict upon us. And often we have the same chaos when it comes to our relationship with God – although we try to make and even enforce the peace with God by our supposed “goodness” and our justification of our sinfulness. But this is an advanced and particularly noxious form of sin – wherein the blame is laid entirely on others. But this will never work, for:
I. Under Law There Is Always Alienation, Hostility, And Animosity
A. And The Fact Is That All Have Sinned
Rom. 3:23 “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
Eccl. 7:20 “There is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.”
Text: “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”
B. And We Know From Scripture That Sin Separates, Isolates, And Engenders Hatred
1. Between Adam and Eve, after their sin in the garden – which was multiplied by sins committed against each other
2. Between Cain and Abel – resulting in the first murder in human history
3. And always between us and God, especially the sins of impenitence and self-justification
1 John 1:10 “If we say we have not sinned we are calling God a liar, and His Word is not in us.”
Statement: Now this is the cause of our broken condition and our broken relationships – and we must know that as long as we are under law, condemning the sins of others and being condemned for our own sins, there will be no peace or reconciliation in our lives. The law – our knowledge and sense of right and wrong – only exacerbates our conflict and brokenness, within ourselves and in our relationships!
Application: Unfortunately, our sin and the law’s condemnation are real – so that our denials will accomplish nothing, except to increase our troubles. And even though we understand this we seem not to be able to help ourselves – we continue to try to use the same useless and foolish methods to “put” ourselves and our relationships back together. But law – the application of right and wrong – will never accomplish this. We are flawed, sinners, and we know it – in our clearer and more lucid moments.
Transition: But all is not lost, and all is not without hope. For what the king, his horses and men, are not able to do, God is able to do and has done – and this is Christianity, Christian faith and life, to know that:
II. Christ Has Removed Condemnation and Hostility By Abolishing the Law’s Condemnation – And Reconciling Us To God Through The Cross
Text: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, Who has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and 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.”
Statement: The brokenness is made whole and healed by Christ, by His shed blood. The hostility and animosity is ceased by His breaking down what divides sinful human beings – “the law of commandments and ordinances.” His forgiveness and mercy reconciles all people to God, and that mercy is “in His body” and “through the cross.” This alone is what “kills the hostility.”
Application: What is good, and what seems good to us – the law of God, is actually the problem when it comes to our inner peace and our peace with others. Until we acknowledge our utter sin and guiltiness, and take refuge in the forgiveness and mercy of God in Christ Jesus, we will have no peace with God, no real inner peace within ourselves, and no peace with other human beings! To afflict us, Satan tries to keep us under God’s law; to heal us, Christ has “abolished the law of commandments and ordinances” in the redemptive shedding of His blood on the cross.
Transition: So if you want peace, you must confess your sin and flee to the blood and flesh of Christ. This is peace with God – the peace that He has made, rather than the artificial peace that we try to manufacture and assert! And this is the only peace that brings peace to our troubled hearts – putting us back together again! And there is more, for:
III. It Is Christ’s Redemption – By His Blood – That We Are Now Also Able To Be Reconciled To One Another
Text: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, Who has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace.”
A. In God’s Grace And Forgiveness We Are Also Reconciled To One Another
John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
Col. 3:12,13 “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”
B. His Grace Brings Us Into One Commonwealth, God’s Holy Temple, Being Built Together As God’s Dwelling Place
Text: “Through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in Whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
Statement: But obviously, apart from and outside of His grace and mercy there is no salvation, no place for us, and no peace! So we must consider this well – this whole matter of peace and reconciliation. This is all in deadly earnest, and is intractable reality – apart from peace with God in Christ Jesus there is no inner peace, and there is no reconciliation or peace with others.
Application: We know this, both from Scripture and from our experience; we need to remember and to learn how to implement this peace. For it is also true that all who are reconciled to God in Christ Jesus have His peace which surpasses understanding, and they also become “peacemakers,” people who know and understand that God has already reconciled us to one another by “abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances,” thus “breaking down the wall of hostility.” Every time we participate in the “division” and “animosity” of the law we are denying God’s redemption and reconciliation. And by denying it to others we are actually denying it to ourselves.
Conclusion: It is actually true that God can put us back together again – “building us together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Note that it is His work, His gift to us in the blood of Christ and the flesh of Christ. It is not only personal, but rather corporate in nature. We are healed by being healed in our relationships with one another.
He is our peace – with God, within ourselves, and also with one another. Let us take care that we not believe the lies of Satan and remain “alienated” and “strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” There is and can be no peace with such people.
But let us rejoice in the fellowship that God has given us in Christ Jesus – and reap the benefits of “THE RECONCILIATION,” OF CHRIST OUR PEACE. God grant such blessedness, health, and happiness to each of us, and to our congregation! Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.