The Apostle Paul was quite a character. We’re first introduced to him in Acts as he violently persecuted the early Christians – before the road to Damascus – before his name change and life change. When he was Saul – the Jew above Jews – nobody was more religious, more righteous than Saul, and he made sure you knew that. And what about the Gentiles – those heathens who defiled the Sabbath? Well, what’s that prayer the righteous Jews prayed? I thank you, God, for not making me a Gentile, a woman or a dog. That just about says it all, doesn’t it? Women and dogs didn’t get a whole lot of respect in those days, Gentiles apparently didn’t either. The righteous Jews stayed as far away from the Gentiles as they could.

But Paul changed. It took a lot of work on God’s part: in Acts 9 we read about a literally blinding light with Jesus’ voice asking, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” and Saul, blinded by the light of Christ, finally recognizes and accepts who Jesus is, and he becomes Paul-a new name for a totally changed man, inside and out.

It’s difficult to find the old Saul in this portion of Ephesians. Instead we see the changed Paul, the redeemed Paul, the Paul who found and believed in the Pearl of Great Price – Jesus Christ. And Paul is trying to explain to these Ephesians, these former “Gentile dogs”, who this Jesus is, and what Jesus has to offer them. Listen again to his words to them in Ephesians 2: Paul is telling the Ephesians and us that “A new creation is coming into being (Chrysostom) that embraces both Jews and Gentiles (Theodoret). Christ is the true mediator because He alone is able to reconcile all things (Chrysostom). The new person in Christ (Tertullian) is a unity of soul and spirit (Marius Victorinus). The resurrection brings that person peace with God (Theodore of Mopsuestia). The crucified one joins Himself with us to join us to God (Gregory of Nyssa)”. (Church fathers commentary) He is the connecting link which joins us, which unites us with God. Jesus brings reconciliation between God and us.

Reconciliation is the act of restoring harmony – peace – unity of hearts and minds. Paul is telling the Gentiles and us that Jesus restored the relationship between God and us – He renewed it and returned it back to how God had created it to be.

But Jesus is not only our example of peace, verse 14 tells us “He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility . . . .”

And because He is our peace, He helps us to live in peace and “make peace”. As I Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, and that mediator, that bridge-builder is Jesus Christ.”

We look at conflicts throughout our country and the world, and we tend to think, “If only they had Jesus, they wouldn’t squabble so”, but we Christians HAVE Jesus and we continue to bicker and fight among us over some pretty pathetic things. So what does “making peace” look like for us?

The Bible has many word pictures of what “making peace” looks like. How about the peaceable kingdom depicted in Isaiah 11:6-9? “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together . . . the infant will play near the hole of a cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest, and danger no longer exists. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

There’s the key, isn’t it? “ . . .The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.” Knowing God makes all the difference.

We all have different personalities – different views – significant differences in our attitudes and lifestyles. The Kingdom of God – His Kingdom of Peace - embraces and celebrates these differences and works together to find ways to get along together in love; to get along together understanding AND respecting our differences.

The Apostle Paul paints another word picture of this Kingdom in I Corinthians 12 and 13 where he used the idea of the church as a body, a living, breathing organism:

We are all tied up – bound together – in Christ’s love for us and our love for Him and for one another. We can think about that two ways – as being in knots and binds and difficulties because human relationships are like that, or we can view ourselves as interconnected, like our body, where all the parts work together for the good of the whole – for the health of the whole, so we can learn how to make peace Jesus’ way. We need each other to survive and grow and develop. A foot can’t go off walking by itself, it needs the rest of the body to do its task. Even the brain wouldn’t be any good without the rest of the body. We can embrace that connectedness or fight against it. If we choose to embrace it, the body of Christ works for us, if we fight it, we’ll get all tied up in knots!

JR Tolkien said, “All you have to do is to decide what to do with the time that is given to you.” Through God’s sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, we have a love that sets us apart from every other religion, every other faith, and because of that love we bear an awesome responsibility in our service to our Lord. May He find us faithful in living out His love as we strive to be His whole body living and working together in His peace.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, we again thank You for Your great love and care for us. Help us and guide us as we seek to live out Your peace in our thoughts, words and actions. In Jesus’ name we ask this, Amen.

Benediction: As you strive to serve our Savior this week pursue love. Strive for things of the Spirit. Do good work. Be well, in the name of God your Creator, Christ your Savior and the Holy Spirit, your mighty defender. Amen.