Our Only Hope For Peace

“For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;” (Eph 2:14 AV)

 Considering what we are all going through, I thought the above verse was very appropriate.  The context of this verse lends perfectly to what we are all experiencing.  Paul is not speaking of a middle wall between sinful man and a holy God.  He is speaking of the middle wall that was erected between the Jews and the Gentiles.  This was a wall built on prejudice and persecution.  This wall had its first stone laid when God called out Abraham, settled him in Canaan, and five kings invaded.  Over the years, both sides added bricks.  When the LORD made a separation between Jews and Gentiles, it was not because the Jews were a better or more perfect people.  In fact, their situation was quite the opposite.  Yet, being God’s chosen people led to prejudice.  God intended the Hebrew nation to be a nation of ministry to the world, bringing them to God.  In response, the Gentile nations repeatedly attacked, conquered, and enslaved the Jewish people.  Now Christ, having died for all men, we have a church that is a mixture of Jewish and Gentile believers.  The book of Romans and Galatians testifies to this truth.  There were several struggles that the early church had to overcome as it sought to be unified.  But reader, please notice what the scripture says.  Our peace has always been, and always will be, the LORD Jesus Christ!  As we realize we are all one in Christ, we can enjoy our separate cultures.  We can celebrate them.  We can be proud of them.  But our greatest heritage is not in the nations from which our ancestors came, but rather, in the heavenly conversation we share.

Paul said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Ga 3:28 AV)  To make the point even more poignant, Paul repeats the same idea in the book of Colossians. “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” (Col 3:11 AV)  In the search to find solutions to our troubled world, there is only one.  That solution is in Jesus Christ.  When bad things happen between people, we can chalk it up to one thing and one thing only.  SIN.  Sin has been, and always will be, humanity's greatest problem.  Sin is universal.  Whether someone wears a badge or not, sin is the issue.  No matter where one was born, where they live, what they do for a living, or what gender they may be, sin is our problem.  It is universal.  It is unbiased.  It is not one person’s problem more than another’s.  We are all equally fallen.  As we see above, the only way to break down the walls that have been erected between us is repentance from sin and salvation in Jesus Christ.

The LORD has been good to me is allowing be several experiences of ministry outside of my own culture.  I grew up in a mixed cultural city.  The neighborhood in which I grew up was lower-middle class.  Which meant there was a good mixture of different cultures represented.  I grew up in the northeast.  A few years after salvation, the LORD moved me to the Midwest.  We served in an inner-city church whose focus was military families and individuals.  However, our youth group more accurately reflected the culture in which our church was located.  My wife and I served these youth who came from very diverse backgrounds.  My son played baseball on an inner-city high school baseball team and I witnessed first hand the prejudice that came with our situation.  From there, the LORD moved us to the south.  It was a whole new experience as a northerner serving among those who have a unique culture all their own.  Now, we are back up north in a large metropolitan area that is multi-cultural.  We have gone on several trips to assist missionaries.  I have served with a Canadian church, and two churches in Ireland.  My sons have visited Venezuela, Ireland, and Slovakia.  They attended a Christian school that was multi-cultural and played sports with their classmates.  One would think that all that cultural mixing would be a challenge.  The funny thing is, a relationship with Jesus Christ breaks down all those barriers.

Cultural differences fad away as two or more people are gathered in prayer.  All of a sudden it the differences we have pale in comparission with the shared human experiences we feel.  When a leader and a student from two extremely diverse backgrounds can bow their heads and pray with one another, the middle wall of partition evaporates.  Several months back, before the Wuhan Flu pandemic, my soul-winning partner and I knocked on a door.  There stood a lady from a completely different culture.  Given today’s atmosphere, the visit may not have gone as good as it did.  We chatted with her and she confessed she was saved by the blood of Christ.  We had a special time there on her porch.  We shared the blessedness of being saved.  We offered to pray with her.  We left with joy in our hearts and a knowledge that Jesus can bridge the gaps too wide for mere mankind.  Let us remember Christ!  If He is lifted up, then we can solve the differences that threaten to tear us all apart.  Jesus Christ was the foundation upon which this great nation was founded.  He is the only way we can survive.  He is the only peace we can share.