Live in God's Peace

Ephesians 2:11-22
Related Sunday School Lesson, Family Bible Series, October 16

Remember Your Past (Eph. 2:11-13)

A very wise person once said, "If you don't remember you will forget." Throughout the Bible, God reminds His people to intentionally remember things. He knows that the nature of mankind is to live for the moment, so He has to keep reminding believers to think seriously about the past.

He even commanded Israel to erect memorial stones in particular locations to promote reflection on past encounters with Him. These spiritual markers are critical reminders to the believer of God's work of redemption and gracious activity in his life.

One key to living in God's peace is to remember one's past spiritual condition. In vs. 11-13 Paul challenges Gentile Christians to remember that prior to their salvation they were separated from all the benefits of a peaceful relationship with God and the people of God.

The extent of their separation is monumental. To begin with, being uncircumcised, they had no physical evidence of being a part of the covenant family and were considered by the Jews as objects of scorn and contempt (v.11). Secondly, they were spiritually bankrupt since they were separated from a personal relationship with the promised Messiah (Christ).

Included in this separation was exclusion from the Israelite nation through which the sovereign God of creation expressed His redemptive purposes and covenants of promise. Finally, he summarizes his challenge by reminding every saved Gentile to remember that in the past all Gentiles were in a state of spiritual hopelessness and Godlessness with no way of changing their standing with God (v.12).

John Eadie said, "Their future was like a night without a star." Curtis Vaughn said, "They had no God to guide, to befriend, to bless, and to save them." It is imperative that saved Gentiles regularly remember and reflect on these sobering spiritual truths.

I am so glad that Paul does not leave Gentiles hanging in this memory of hopelessness. He reminds us that we should also regularly and intentionally remember how Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, has paved the way for Gentiles to have a relationship with God also.

He makes it clear that in spite of the fact that Gentiles were so far away from God spiritually, Jesus made it possible for them to have a relationship with God by offering His precious blood to God as the full payment for their sin (v.13). This gracious sacrifice was the door opened by God, making possible Gentiles being reconciled to God.

Understand God's Peace (Eph. 2:14-18)

Paul declares that Jesus has not only made peace for them by His death, but He Himself is their peace in the present. Since He has become their peace there no longer remains a division between the Jew and Gentile. They are reconciled to one another in Christ Jesus (v.14).

This reconciling work of Jesus was made possible by His death on the cross. His death satisfied the just demands of the law that condemned all sinners, both Jew and Gentile, to death.

In His death Jesus substitutes His life as the ransom, paying the debt that all sinners owe to God. Not only does His death reconcile the believing Gentile to God, but it reconciles believing Gentiles and Jews as one people in Christ (vs. 15, 16).

One of the great benefits of being one in Christ is that Jews and Gentiles possess the same Holy Spirit.

He insures that both are blessed with unhindered access to the Father (v.17,18). It is worth noting in verse 18, that the redeeming and reconciling work of God for both groups involves God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Accept Your Place (Eph. 2:19-22)

In verse 19, Paul uses the words "so then" to impact the present and future thinking and behavior of Jew and Gentile believers. Reflecting on all that he has thus far said, he wants every Gentile believer to stop living like second class citizens in God's family. He wants them to claim and enjoy the benefits and privileges that are theirs in Christ. They are not strangers and aliens but citizens, saints, and family.

They should stop living underwhelmed that they were adopted into God's family but should live overwhelmed that God has brought them from so far away to so near by his gracious choosing and for His predetermined purposes. They are saints of God and should accept the implications thereof.

Verse 20 introduces the analogy of a spiritual building being built by God. This building has as its most important part the Cornerstone, Who is Jesus. Certainly He gives unity, strength and purpose to this edifice.

He chose for the foundation of this building to be made up of the apostles and the prophets. The structure of the building is formed by believers coming to God from near (Jews) and far (Gentiles).

The intent and purpose of God for this special building is that as He fits it together it would grow and be a holy reflection and testimony of His character (v.21). As He constructs this building, His desire is that it gives evidence of His indwelling presence and the work of His Spirit.

It is God's desire that His people, both Jews and Gentiles, never get over where He has brought us from (hopelessness), what He has brought us to (a reconciled relationship of peace), and what He has planned to do with us (build a spiritual edifice witnessing His glory and Lordship).

If we don't intentionally remember these truths we will unintentionally drift into a life lacking in peace and void of worship. We will soon become, like Old Testament Israel, useless as living epistles in a world that desperately needs a witness of God's awesome greatness.