Peace Be In Your Life Ephesians 2:14-17
As we talked about last week and as we know, we are in the season of Advent. Last week we saw hope, mankind’s true hope was born in a dusty manger with the birth of Jesus. The candle we lit last week is the prophesy candle because it looks forward; our hope is our secure place in heaven despite what we as believers may experience here in life.
Today we light what is known as the Bethlehem candle and it signifies the peace that entered our world with Jesus; Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Now the first thing I usually think of when peace is mentioned is a lack of hostility. Peace was restored between the North and the South in 1865 at the Appomattox Court House. In this sense peace between hostile entities is established usually through the concurring of one by the other. Peace is forced on one because of defeat.
I also think of peace as a lessening of elevated emotions, and this usually occurs when the two parties agree to let the issue go or when one party acknowledges their error and apologizes, even when I don’t really think Jen is right. I’m going to have to watch what I say when she’s feeling good enough to come back.
Peace is also seen as a personal calmness. I feel at peace on a summer evening when I’m sitting by the fire pit with a cup of coffee just relaxing at the end of the day.
All of these are proper ideas as related to peace. But Biblical peace is something else. Biblical peace is spiritual. It is a condition of our existence. And it is interactive.
Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”
Some belief systems say that for man to gain God you need to live a life where you do more good than you do bad. I can imagine always worrying if what I did was good or bad; am I in the black or in the red in God’s book?
One faith tells its followers that to go to heaven you have to be better than someone already there because there are only a limited number of places. Imagine always wondering if you are good enough to bump someone out of heaven. And how can heaven be paradise if while I’m there I have to worry about someone out doing me and kicking me out?
And then there’s the belief that you keep coming back until you get it right. This is the one that scares me the most because if I had to keep doing this life over and over until I get it right, I’ll never make it.
In our own faith’s history at Mount Sinai the people failed to recognize God’s grace in his leading them out of bondage and they vowed to do everything God told them to. They didn’t see that a fallen human cannot do everything a perfect and holy God says to or in the way he means it to be done. Enter the Ten Commandments; thou shall not, thou shall not; men always trying to do it right.
All of these systems I’ve mentioned rely on us working at it all the time; how tiring, how stressful. God in his love does not want us to live like that. God wants us to live in peace, a state of peace between us and him.
This state of peace is a spiritual one because it comes from God and not from us. Romans 5:8, “While we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Mankind didn’t do anything; no great sacrifice as payment for our sins, no grand cathedral to demonstrate our devotion, no begging for forgiveness to prove our repentance. Our peace with God is spiritual because it is not dependant on our past, present or future actions, it is wholly dependent on the Spirit of God.
This peace with God is also a condition of our existence. We do not have to wait for it. We have peace with God now; it is yours from the moment of your belief. You do not have to wait until you get to heaven to enjoy peace with the Almighty. Peace between us and God is a condition of our existence because it is instant and permanent the moment you take Jesus to be your savior. We don’t say Jesus I want you in my life, I accept you as my Lord and Savior and then get told, “OK, good, but now there is a probation period.”
Peace between us and God is a condition of our existence because we live within it every second of our lives. No more worrying if we did enough. No more worrying if we slipped up; Romans 8:1-2, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through him the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
There it is, plainly written. Peace with God is spiritual because it is the law of the Spirit that creates it. Peace with God is a condition of our existence because we are forever more free from the law of sin and death.
In addition to these peace with God is interactive. We have God’s peace, true, but it is also true God wants us to act out this peace.
Last week I said that when I say Jesus is the example we look to as we live our lives doesn’t just mean in regard to prayer and looking at this peace with God is another time that we should look to Jesus as our example to follow.
John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give you.” As we saw earlier the world’s peace comes externally, it’s manifested by a lack of hostility, a lack of conflict. Peace with God is based by what God did at the cross but we are the ones who manifest that peace on earth and Jesus is where we look to see how this is done.
Jesus did not sin and yet he let sinners approach. Jesus never wavered from God’s laws yet he never told someone they were beyond all hope. Jesus always lived by God’s highest standards and yet he never pushed away those who failed in this regard.
Matthew 19:4-6, “…at the beginning the Creator made them male and female…a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two shall become one…” Yet when in John 4 Jesus engages the woman at the well who had five husbands he didn’t tell her “Nope, you’re out.”
I know some churches that won’t let you be their minister or even on their leadership team if you are divorced. I think this is a wrongly placed interpretation of scripture as it limits God’s grace. I have done a lot of praying on this. I’ve talked about this in regard to those living together outside of marriage and those from the LGBT community. Some churches will say you are not welcome but I don’t see that as a demonstration of Jesus manifestation of peace with God.
We all sin. I don’t know what you do and I don’t believe it’s my place to point my finger. It is my place to tell everyone that Jesus loves them and he wants them and they can gain heaven by faith in Jesus. When we exclude people we fail to recognize our own sin and we limit God’s grace and that can be a dangerous place for us to be in. Matthew 7:1-2, “Do not judge or you will be judged. For in the same way you judge others you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
One more thing I wanted to mention. Peace with God is peace within his church. The Book of Acts describes the early church. There were no Catholics, no Methodists, no Baptists or Congregationalists. Denominations came as men put their own interpretations on scripture and as men let the times dictate the ideology they applied to scripture. Over the centuries churches have fought with each other, condemned each other and refused to work together. In several cases different denominations have violently attacked each other.
We are all creations of God. We are all children of God. And through belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior we are all Christians. Acts 2:14, “They devoted themselves to the teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to prayer.” This is a description of a healthy church. The peace we have with God must be manifested through our dealings and interactions with others starting with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And we do this through prayer and our devotion and support of others in our fellowship and those in the greater fellowship of God’s church on earth.
Over 2000 years ago in Bethlehem Jesus was born and a new peace was born in that manger with him. Through our faith we are at peace with the creator of the universe. We no longer need to worry if we do enough because this peace is not based on us, it’s based on God. As recipients of this peace our lives should manifest it from our hearts and into our actions. We should live in peace with each other and not try to limit God’s grace and peace with others. We should work at keeping our churches focused on God’s peace so his church on earth can do his work and spread his word.
May the peace of God in heaven and the peace of our Lord Christ Jesus be you always.
Amen.