Ephesians 2:17

He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near (Ephesians 2:17 NLT).

In context, this verse is about unity.  The entire second chapter of Ephesians is emphasizing the unity that Christ brings to those who come to the Father through Him.  Therefore, it is interesting to note that the message Jesus uses when unifying these two groups is peace.   Yet peace is not the unifier, but the result.  It is the blood of Christ that unifies, but when that unity is accomplished there will be peace.

Why is that important?  It is profoundly important, especially as we consider the times in which we live.  Jesus told us that in the end, the love of many would grow cold.  This is not just their love for God, but for one another.  The connection is in the fact that when we truly love another person, we are at peace with that person.  In fact, a lack of peace typically indicates a lack of love.  Was it not the love of God that sent Jesus to the cross?  And was it not the cross that produced the ultimate peace between God and us?  It makes complete and logical sense, therefore, that peace would be the over-arching, tangible attitude we would witness when people are walking in a truly loving relationship.  The opposite is also unfortunately the case as well, however.  With a lack of peace, we can easily discern the presence of a cold and uncaring heart.

This revelation requires an honest inventory.  What is the prevailing attitude we have towards the relationships in our lives?  In the instances where we can detect a lack of peace between us and anyone else, we can quickly pinpoint the problem as a love gone cold.  In light of Christ’s two great commands – to love God with all that we are and to love one another likewise, we find a life-giving key to the equation of peace and love in Paul’s admonition to the believers in Rome:

If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men (Romans 12:18 NKJV).

There will definitely be times where it is impossible to have peace with someone because they choose to be at odds with us in spite of our best efforts to restore the relationship.  However, it must be our goal to make these the exception to the rule and not the on-going record of casualties we are creating because of a heart gone cold.

Today I will examine my relationships and ask the Father to rekindle my love for those people with whom I am no longer walking in peace, so that at least on my end I will be making every effort to keep the peace:

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3 NIV).

Check out Gennarino's devotion on Ephesians 2:17.

Ephesians 2:16

Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death (Ephesians 2:16 NLT).

Really?  Sure could have fooled me.  The hostility between Jews and Gentiles is at an all time high.  For the first time in our history as a country, we are disengaging from our solid stand by Israel we have had for centuries and countries like the Ukraine are beginning to show pre-Nazi treatment of their Jewish residents in making them register for the purpose of knowing how many are in the country and where they are specially located.

Obviously, this Biblical truth will be difficult to see with our natural eyes.  Like many other spiritual principles and laws, the validity of their reality does not rely upon the manifestation of that truth on planet earth.  The principle is true whether we embrace that truth or not.  For instance, as a believer, according to God’s Word, I am a citizen of Heaven, I am a child of God, every spiritual blessing of Christ is mine because I am united with Him by God’s grace, I am Heaven-bound instead of Hell-bound, I have all authority over the enemy, I am the apple of God’s eye, I can do all things through Christ, I have a table prepared before me in the presence of my enemies, I am the head and not the tail, I am privileged to know the joy of the resurrection and the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. 

The list could continue forever, but the bottom line is that the only way to actually manifest the reality of these truths on planet earth is by faith, which is why the Bible tell us:

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

In the case at hand, the peace that Christ purchased between Jews and Gentiles is available to anyone who aspires to live by faith, which is why as a Christian we should always find ourselves on the same side as Israel.  When we do, we will enjoy the reward that comes from a life lived by faith. 

Today I will ask Jesus to grant me the faith to see as He sees, to love what He loves, and, as the song says, to break my heart for what breaks His.

Check out Gennarino's devotion on Ephesians 2:16.

Ephesians 2:15

He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups (Ephesians 2:15 NLT).

This verse begins with “He did this …”, which begs the question, “He did what?”  We find the answer in the previous verse – He united Jews and Gentiles into one people.  How did He do that?  He did it by ending the system of the law with its commandments and regulations.  Yet we also know that He did not abolish the law because He told us that was not what He came to do:

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.  So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:17-20 NLT).

So are we under the law or under grace?  The answer is yes, because it is not an either or from the standpoint of Scripture.  Titus 2 tells us that grace is our ability to say no to unrighteousness, but how do we know what is unrighteous without the law which was given so that we could know what God’s standard of righteousness is and by grace say no to anything that is not in line with the law.   

What Jesus did away with at the cross, therefore, was not the law itself, but the commandments and regulations that had become the implementation of the law by the Jews.  Instead of an outward observance through “do’s and don’ts,” and an exclusive need of lineage, Jesus leveled the playing field to inward criteria of faith and love and a relationship with God that included “whosever will.”  This new group would now include Jews and Gentiles who operated from a base of grace and who would display a righteous life that was never going to come from the law because of our natural flaw:

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3-5 NKJV).

Today I will walk according to the Spirit in a righteousness that is not my own.

Be sure to check out Gennarino's devotion on Ephesians 2:15. 

Ephesians 2:14

For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us (Ephesians 2:14 NLT). 

As a young woman of 13, my pastor gave me a verse at one of our Sunday School events.  I was not saved at the time so it really did not hold a great deal of significance to me until I met Jesus some 20 years later.  The verse was:

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27 NKJV).

What became significant to me was the fact that there is a peace that the world offers which is not the same peace that we have in Christ, to which Paul is referring.  The peace of the world is fragile and subject to the whims of human nature.  Whether it is the peaceful atmosphere of a home that disappears in the heat of an argument or the peace of a country that is suddenly catapulted into terror by the invasion of another country, the peace of the world is not stable.

In contrast, the peace that Christ accomplished at the cross is a peace between God and us.  That peace is not subject to human whim or wars, to arguments or disputes, or any other outside force that would otherwise be able to topple the tenuous condition we think of as peace in this world.  It is a peace to which we can anchor our hope because no matter what happens in this life, we have the calm assurance that the wall of hostility between God and us has been abolished.  When we understand the basis of this peace from God, we will be able to see our life through the lens of eternity and it will look like this:

 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!  So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NLT).

With a peace like that, nothing rocks our boat, which is a good thing since so many signs point to the fact that we are in the end of the age.  One of the promises that God gives concerning that period of time is:

“Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain (Hebrews 12:26b-27 NLT).

I will set my heart and mind on the immutable peace of God rather than seeking peace here on earth that is subject to circumstances so that no matter what comes my way today, I will not be moved.

Be sure to check out Gennarino's devotion on Ephesians 2:14.   

Ephesians 2:13

But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13 NLT).

This verse contains a truth that goes beyond what we can possibly comprehend.  Think about what Paul is saying here - we have been brought near to God – not to some movie star, business tycoon, world-famous athlete, or even the most influential political power. Anyone of those would change our life radically, so how much more should our life be transformed when we are brought near to the source of Life Himself – God Almighty!!

What does it look like to be near to God?  The Bible describes it this way:

For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son (Colossians 1:13 NLT).

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,  he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him (Colossians 1:21-22 ESV).

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV).

 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26 NKJV).

 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15 NLT).

From this short list, we see that coming near to God has taken us out of darkness into light, from being hostile towards God to blameless before Him, from being fearful slaves to sin to being children of God who call Him Daddy.  The benefit of being made near to God could take a lifetime to put on paper and will certainly take an eternity to discover.  

Today, I will meditate on and enjoy my position in Christ of being near to God.

Check out Gennarino’s devotion on Ephesians 2:13.