PRAYING AND WORKING FOR PEACE AND PROGRESS III

4. Christ, our peace, has reconciled to God as a body both the Jews and Gentiles (including all groups of people in the world) Verse 16.
All humans are God’s enemies because our sins have separated us from God. But Christ came into the world to die for our sins in order to bring us back to God (Rom. 5:6-10). This reconcilatory work of Christ not person by person or group, but as a single Body of Christ, is another rationale to working for the peace of the church.
5. Peace is the gospel message that Christ preached to all, irrespective of nationality or any other human differences (Verse 17-18).
Christ is called the Prince of Peace. The gospel is all about peace-peace with God and peace with men. As Jesus resurrected, His first word to His disciples was about peace (luke 24:36; John 20:19,21,26). Peace is the gospel message Christ preached, so if truly we are disciples of Christ, we must preach the same, both in words and actions. True disciple of Christ must not be promoters of anything that is the opposite of peace.

PRAYING AND WORKING FOR PEACE AND PROGRESS II

The scope of Christ’s work as our peace is the rationale for every believer to work for the peace of his or her local church and denomination. This scope is in the following dimensions:
1. Jesus, our peace has made the two groups of the Jews and Gentiles one and, by extension all groups which any local church of denomination can be divided into (Verse 14): This is confirmed in Gal.3:28: There is neither Jews nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (NIV).
Therefore, there is nothing like Jews or Gentile Christians, again; all are Christians. Same is applicable to today’s Church; for all human distinctions (in whatever form) were already nailed to the cross.
2. Christ, our peace, has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility (Verse 14): This does not refer to a physical barrier of the Mosaic Law that separated the Israelites from other nations. For the Israelites the wall of hostility had to do with the law, but today it is more of the wall of racism, ethnic distinctions/learnings, social status, clergy/laity dichotomy, spirituality/carnality dichotomy, etc. Jesus has, however, destroyed all these wall. So, for anyone to effectively work for peace, he or she must be conscious of the fact that the walls of hostility have been destroyed.
3. Christ, our peace, has a definite purpose of creating, in Himself, one new humanity out of any existing groups of humanity (Verse 15): The purpose of God is that once someone is in Christ, he or she is the same as others and belongs to single group of believers. Through Christ, God has joined people from all races, ethnic and social backgrounds together. This is what we call the church. Thus, everyone must be welcomed and treated equally, without racial, ethnic, and social consideration. This is the purpose of Christ for the Church. The implication of this is that anytime a believer is working in any way against the oneness and peace of the church, he or she is actually working against the purpose of God.

PRAYING AND WORKING FOR PEACE AND PROGRESS

TEXT: Ephesian 2:11-22

One of the major signs of healthy family, church and denomination is peaceable living,usually evident in oneness,unity and freedom from crisis. The New Testament is full of admonition about believers dwelling together in peace,harmony and oneness. This is because it is only in an atmosphere of peace that the church can effectively make progress in fulfilling her five-fold purpose of existence. Husband and wife are also considered by God not to be two again but one (Gen.2:24; Matt.19:5-6).Therefore, it is imperative for every member of each family,local church and church organizations not only to continually pray but to work for peace of the Body of Christ,in all strata of the denominational structure.
Unfortunately,an atmosphere of peace is always difficult to create and maintain because of human differences,particularly in terms of attitudes,backgrounds,beliefs,ethnics background,social status,etc. It has been like that since Bible times.

JESUS CHRIST AS THE FOUNDATION OF OUR PEACE AND RATIONALE FOR WORKING FOR PEACE (Eph.2:14-18)
For He Himself is our peace…(Eph.2:14). The text of this verse is part of Paul’s admonition to the Church in Ephesus.He urged the members to work for peace among themselves. The Church at Ephesus consisted of both the Jews and Gentiles,two groups known to have always been at eternity with each other. Thus,the basic message of Eph.2:14 is that Christ has become the peace of all that are in Him,who were previously divided along their line of nationalities.He made both the Jews and Gentiles,who have come to Him,one by destroying (through His death on the cross) the compulsory circumcision,which served as the dividing wall of hostility between the two groups. So,there ought not to be any line of division in the Church of God,again; for all have been made one. This is why it is mandatory for all believers to stand in prayer against all forces of division in the Church and commit themselves to work for her peace,which definitely will translate to her progress. th ea