Fruit of the Spirit - Peace

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 136:1-6
• Hymn — Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (#616)
• Shorter Catechism — Questions 11 & 12
• Hymn — A Shelter in the Time of Storm (#619)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Ephesians 2:11-22
• Sermon
• Closing Prayer
• Hymn — All the Way My Savior Leads Me (#605)
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Fruit of the Spirit — Peace

Scripture: Ephesians 2:11-22

I. Vertical Peace

A. The nature of man's war with God

1. Paul's concept of peace draws on the Hebrew word shalom — wholeness, completeness, oneness, a well-ordered life in step with God
2. Before the Spirit's work, all mankind are "children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3)
3. Romans 8:5-8 contrasts life in the flesh (enmity with God) and life in the Spirit (life and peace)
4. Man, not God, fired the first shot — sin severs the harmony of creation and declares war on God

B. The war won at the cross

1. Peace requires the right side to win — as Allied victory (not Nazi victory) was necessary for peace in WWII, God must defeat sin and death for true peace to follow
2. Colossians 1:19-20 — God reconciles all things to himself, "making peace by the blood of his cross"
3. Reconciliation and peace are interchangeable terms — atonement (at-one-ment) means oneness with God restored
4. God drops the "atomic bomb" of his wrath on Christ at Calvary, winning the war over sin and death

C. The Spirit applies Christ's work

1. Christ's finished work inaugurates the age of the poured-out Spirit on all whom he has reconciled
2. Peace with God comes with terms — life in step with the Spirit rather than the flesh (Romans 8:5-8)
3. The flesh and the Spirit are at war; peace can only reign as we walk by the Spirit and not the flesh (Galatians 5)

II. Internal Peace

A. The cleansing of the conscience

1. Hebrews 10:22 — hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience through Christ's blood
2. Hebrews 9:13-14 — old covenant sacrifices cleansed the flesh externally; Christ's sacrifice cleanses the conscience internally
3. The Spirit internalizes what Christ accomplished externally at Calvary — he "paints our hearts with the blood of Christ"
4. Romans 12:2 — the mind is transformed and renewed by the Spirit's work

B. Peace amid ongoing internal struggle

1. The internal struggle does not prove absence of the Spirit — Romans 7 shows Paul doing what he does not wish to do
2. "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:24-25)
3. Romans 8:1 belongs to the conclusion of Romans 7 — "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"
4. The Spirit uses the pain of battling the flesh to remind believers of the peace found in Christ alone
5. The gospel is never sweeter than when guilt makes it seem impossible — the internal struggle magnifies the extravagance of grace

C. The already and the not yet

1. Present peace is like Noah's peace in the ark — secure even as storms rage within and without
2. We await the "not yet" — new resurrection bodies fully free from indwelling sin, a stormless peace in the new heavens and new earth

III. Horizontal Peace

A. The objective peace accomplished by Christ

1. Ephesians 2:11-22 — Christ's blood brings both Jews and Gentiles near to God in one Spirit, breaking down the dividing wall of hostility
2. Atonement (at-one-ment) reconciles not only vertically but horizontally — oneness with fellow man

B. Our responsibility to live into that peace

1. Peter's failure in Galatians 2 — withdrawing from the Gentiles when Jewish believers arrived contradicted the very gospel of peace he proclaimed
2. Paul rebuked Peter to his face because his conduct denied the horizontal reconciliation Christ had accomplished
3. Quote from 19th-century Dutch Reformed pastor George Bethune: defenders of truth who use arrogant, wounding language are "verily guilty of breaking peace" — the gospel came to bring peace on earth and goodwill toward men
4. Conservative Christians are especially susceptible to truth-as-a-bomb approaches, particularly in online discourse — a fleshly defense of truth must be distinguished from a Spirit-wrought defense of truth

C. The fruit of the Spirit is singular

1. Peace cannot be isolated from the other qualities — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control are all robust flavors of one fruit
2. Doctrinal correctness does not excuse careless or provocative speech toward brothers and sisters
3. As citizens of Christ's kingdom and covenant of peace, believers are to pursue peace in all they say and do, without abandoning truth