A Uniting Greeting

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to the book of Ephesians and I encourage you to read along in the first three verses today as we are on sermon number five in this book study. Today's title is "A Uniting Greeting." The greeting that Paul chooses is very uniting and I want to show that to you today. There is a lot that you can learn by simple observation and in today's text a lot of what is going to be drawn from it is observing what Paul did. Obviously this is Scripture so he is saying grace to you and peace. I want us to kind of dive into that a little bit and see how that is uniting among the brethren and the sisters of the Lord.

But first let us read together in verses one to three: "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."

And let us pray. Father, thank You for this passage, this introduction, the salutation, this greeting. Help us to understand some principles from it today and apply them to our lives so that we would make a difference in someone's life. And I pray as well that it would be a blessing unto You, Lord. I pray that You would sanctify us as well. If anyone here is not saved, God, I pray by the power of Your Holy Spirit that You would convict them of their sin and help them to see their desperate need of You, to repent and to place their faith and trust in You and You alone. In Christ's name we pray, amen.

So this uniting greeting — this is a greeting that unites two people groups and I want to show you that. But first let me speak to this: there are things and people who divide us and also things and people who unite us. That is normal. That is normal. The Pharisees relentlessly and tirelessly divided the people and capitalized off of the division and the tension.

Our American history has had a civil war causing divisions among us — the Union versus the states, discussion and governing, and also slavery. The Southern Baptist Convention has also slipped, and trying to be united in the mission rather than in Scripture has allowed Wokism to enter in. Remember, we are united in Christ and the Word of God is Christ. We are united in Him. And if we have unity based upon Christ and Christ alone, then it is a true unity. It is true grace and true peace. But if you go beyond the Scriptures and beyond Christ to try and be united in a mission, then the means do not matter. Anything can go. You see what I am saying? Wokism crept in and has been used pragmatically to try and win people to be united in a mission. We cannot do that. We have to first of all be united in Christ.

That is one of the reasons why we voted — and it was a unanimous vote — to leave the Southern Baptist Convention and be faithful to our biblical roots. We need to be united in Christ. This greeting is very uniting. Today those who aim to divide us in one little area would be the Wokies. Those who are woke, those who want to divide us based upon our skin color — today those Wokies want to divide us and polarize Christians like our political system is polarized and pitted one against the other. We are united in Christ. Christ unifies us. That is the main theme of the book of Ephesians. And so Paul greets the church in an extremely brilliant way, aiming to unite them in Christ. While those who are aimed and armed and trying to divide the church, you must be aimed and armed and striving brilliantly to unite the church. We combat evil with the Scriptures.

And so would you be like Paul and unite the two groups — grace and peace from God the Father. Psalm 133:1 says, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity."

And so allow me, if you would, to build up to how Paul ever so brilliantly unites two groups in this greeting. First of all, in verse 2, notice that grace is from God. "Grace to you and peace from God." F-R-O-M. From. In the Greek it literally means out of. So notice where it comes from. It originates from God. And "from" is a word that means out of. And so God — out of God comes grace and peace. You have heard the doxological hymn that so accurately testifies, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." Right? You have heard this and you know this. Paul clarifies that grace and peace are from God.

And then the results are, first of all, salvation. Salvation is from God. But also, look in the text, it is also from Christ Jesus. Verse 2 again: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Our fellow Jehovah's Witnesses probably do not like that verse at all. It is hard to get around the fact that salvation comes from God and from Jesus. So saving grace comes from God the Father and Christ our King.

Look with me in chapter 2 verse 13 as we continue to see that grace and peace are from God. Chapter 2 verse 14 in Ephesians says this: "For He Himself is our peace." So that is Christ — He is our peace. "Who made both groups into one." Paul is still working on unity here in the church. You see this. I am going to build up to it. So verse 14 again, chapter 2 verse 14: "For He Himself is our peace who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace. And might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by having put to death the enmity." And then in verse 17 again, "And He came and He preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near." Here the word "enmity" is repeated, as is the word "peace."

Enmity is hostility between sinners and God. And through the cross this hostility — perhaps if you are unsaved, the hostility between you and God — is removed. But you by faith have to believe in that. It is God's grace that gives you the ability to have faith in that. He can remove that hostility, that enmity between you and God. Christ on the cross, in His substitutionary payment for your sin, He is your peace. So having Christ and being in Christ — that is true peace. Peace is from God. Peace is from Jesus.

I was witnessing to a surfer and he said that his peace comes from the ocean. I was witnessing to another one who was a chain smoker. He said that his peace comes from cigarettes. And I thought in myself and in my heart, "No, that is a pseudo-peace. That is not true peace. You may get a temporal peace in relief from staring off into the endless sea. That is enjoyable to me. You may get a temporal peace." I do not know about this — you may, I do not know, sucking on carcinogens and chemicals that cause cancer. I hope not. There may be a temporal peace there, but it is not true peace.

True lasting eternal peace is from God. It is not from overeating. It is not from smoking. It is not from gazing and staring. It is not from any escapism techniques out there. True peace is from Christ. And if you are chasing after a temporal peace, it only dulls the symptoms of your lack of eternal peace with God. And so the peace that is from God is priceless. And if you are chasing after peace or sufficiency in anything else other than seeking after Christ, it is truly futile.

And so it is so clear to me that Romans chapter 3 verse 11 is true when witnessing that none seek after God. Listen to Romans chapter 3 verses 10 and 11: "As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God."

And so none seek God. And so for the lost surfer whom I was witnessing to, who was gaining a temporal peace from perhaps an exhilarating ride on the waves, his temporal peace crashes, right? And he has got to go get it again, and again, and again. The same for any other temporal peace. But the lasting peace that is in Christ is absolutely amazing. So he is not seeking Christ. He is seeking another wave. None seek Christ. So what do you do? Well, it is by the power of the gospel. You give them the gospel. You simply share Christ. It is by the power of the gospel that their blind eyes are opened and they can actually perceive and see Christ the true answer. And so that is the reason why we are doing our absolute best to unite everyone in Christ. That is the main idea. It takes the grace and peace that is from God to be able to change the surfer who is seeking the wave and to be able to change the ones who are seeking after a temporal peace. It takes it from God. Until then, they will seek peace in all the wrong places. Maybe Johnny Lee is coming to your mind — old country singer. This I had to look up, but looking for love in all the wrong places.

Do not be like that. Seek Christ for true peace, for true love. We need to be looking for love in the right places, looking for peace in the right places. In a day when the Ephesian community sought peace and pleasure from the goddess Diana, Paul pointed them to peace in Christ. Do not go to that false temple and get some type of exhilarating fun time in the flesh that is offered by the prostitutes and Diana, all this other garbage. That is a pseudo-peace. It is a fleeting pleasure that is going to trap you and you are going to be trapped into that fleshly cycle over and over and over again. Instead, he is saying to the Ephesians, do not go to that false temple. Go to Christ and become a temple. Go to Christ, get in Him, and He will dwell in you and you will have true peace.

In our day when people are seeking peace and relief from overeating, from over vaping, from over drinking, from over scrolling in media endlessly, from methamphetamines, may we be like Paul and bring people to Christ to see where true peace is and tell them the peace that you are looking for is in Christ. Everything else is futile. Everything else is going to ruin your life. We need to be bringing people to Christ to be a faithful light.

Matthew chapter 5 and verse 14 says that you are the light of the world. Let me read it to you. We need to remember this. Matthew 5:14 says: "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket. But on the lampstand, it gives the light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

You are the light. Christ was the light when He was incarnate. He has been ascended and glorified. Now we are the light of the world, so we must spread Christianity. How else will they hear? Romans 10:14 says. Everyone is searching for grace and peace in all the wrong places. We know where the sustaining eternal peace truly is. So show them true peace.

Luke 7:50 says, "And he said to the woman, 'Your faith has saved you. Now go in peace.'" Rather interesting, is it not? So after salvation you can experience true peace because that peace is coming from God.

John 14:27: "Peace I leave you. My peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you." There is a worldly peace. This is what the Bible says here. Jesus is saying there is a worldly peace.

Matthew chapter 24, verses 37 and following gives us an idea of this pseudo-peace that happens in the world. Now before the flood, everyone was eating and drinking and giving in marriage and marrying and life is normal. But they were in sin. And this particular passage in Matthew chapter 24 describes how things will be yet again. Everybody will be eating and drinking and marrying and carrying on in life like normal. And then all of a sudden Jesus comes. Matthew chapter 24 verse 37 says: "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark. And they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away. So will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in a field and one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left."

Do you see how people in general will have a pseudo-peace, a false peace? One woman had true peace and was taken and the other one did not. Same thing with a man. Then all of society — they were eating and drinking and giving in marriage. Now in itself is eating and drinking sin? No, you can do those to the glory of God, the Bible says. However, if the extent of your life is eating and drinking, if that is the end means of what you aim to do, if all of your life is about what you want to eat and about what you want to do and about what you want to drink, if that is the end goal, then you are simply worshipping the things of this world. You are given to idolatry. Those things have displaced Christ, and Christ will catch you by surprise.

So the normalcy of life is a false peace. Do you know anybody who is doing good? "Man, I have got my bills paid. I am going to go golfing, I am going to go out on a lake, I am going to do all these things. I am going to eat, I am going to drink, I am going to marry, I am just going to carry on with life as normal." Do you know anybody who has perhaps a pseudo-peace rather than a true peace? Well it seems to be by and large that there are a lot of people who have not a peace from God, but yet a peace that is wrapped up in this world — a temporal peace, not an eternal peace.

Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God." That is true peace. Peace with God is a true peace through our Lord Jesus Christ. This peace is not a peace and relief that you get from pain pills, perhaps if you are in pain. This is a true peace that is from God and through Jesus after justification. After you are saved, you can have true peace.

American prosperity produces a pseudo-peace. There are many who believe that they are Christian because they live in America, or they grew up in the South, or they grew up in church — that is a false peace. You have peace that has come from Christ. Many in the Southeast are not saved, but they say they have peace that will not do for eternity. We need to be ones who, like in Revelation chapter 3 verse 3, like Christ says to the church of Sardis, wake up! Wake up! True peace is from Christ, and if you are seeking peace in the everyday things of life and you are seeking comfort in the things of life, it is a displacement of Christ. The blessings that we have from Christ are different than a peace that is inward.

Grace to you and peace. Grace in the Greek means that God has bestowed upon those unworthy vessels and those undeserving vessels His favor. Christ has bestowed upon unworthy people His grace. And the more that you understand grace, the more you feel unworthy for having it. The more that you understand grace, the more grateful you are because He made you alive.

Back to Ephesians. I want you to see Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 5 and give you just a little point as to how grateful you should be unto God for His grace. Our grace is from God. Grace to you. See, grace to you is from God. He gave it to you. You did not earn it. You did not deserve it, but He gave it to you and then He made you alive. In verse 5 of chapter 2 it says, "Even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive." He made us alive, made us alive together with Christ — and it is by grace that you have been saved. This is a gift. You did not earn it or deserve it.

In verse 8 of chapter 2 it says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one can boast." This gift of salvation by God's grace through your faith is something that you did not earn. It is something that you did not deserve. It is nothing that you chose. God gave you the ability to seek Him. None seek Him, the Bible says, but now you have been given this. So at the same time, as you are grateful and acknowledging that God gave you this grace, you understand more and more how unmerited it was. It is from the divine to you who were lost.

This greeting in Ephesians is so meaningful. It is far beyond a general, "Good to see you. How are you today?" It is far beyond a superficial shallow handshake — perhaps you are distracted while you are seeing somebody and you say, "How are you?" and you go off. So far beyond the shallowness, this is superbly spiritual. Grace from God the Father to you, and peace to you from God and Jesus. The whole idea, the reality of grace here is that those who have it know that they did not earn or deserve it, and so they are simply benefactors — they are beneficiaries of God's grace.

This produces for Christians the ability to celebrate Thanksgiving every single day of your life. Not just once a year in America, but we are grateful and thankful. And so in your house, you can gauge how spiritual you are by how much you are thanking God, especially for the little things in life. If you love the little things, then you are very right with Christ. Let me tell you, you do not have to have the big things in life to be happy because you have already got Christ, you have already got salvation. And so anything above that is more than you deserve by far. If you lived in the gutters of life for the rest of your life without a home, you would still be more blessed than you could ever deserve. So to the extent to which you are grateful for the little things and have an overflowing heart — an expressive life of gratitude — is the extent of how spiritual you are. And you can climb out of a spiritual rut by starting to thank God for what you do have. Do not concentrate on what you do not have. That is what Satan wants you to think about. You focus on what God has given you and be grateful for what He has given you.

I never really understood it. Up in the mountains when I was in Bible college, they would just testify over and over and over again, "I am so thankful for my salvation. I am so thankful for my salvation." There was a lot of gratitude, a lot of thanksgiving going on at the beginning of worship services. It was great to see. I understand that now. And that was simply flowing from an attitude of gratitude because they knew that it was God's grace that had saved their soul.

Now grace is like the spring that produces peace. Let me say it to you this way. A steady stream of unending gratitude for God's grace is like a spring from which peace flows. If you do not have peace, then you are not grateful. But for ones who are extremely grateful, from the spring of gratefulness flows peace. So the firm foundation of your spiritual life is being rooted and grounded in the grace of God. And when you are thankful for God's grace, peace flows from that. It is a logical sequence from grace to peace. And we ought to be ones who are continually grateful.

And so the combination of grace and peace is the absolute best position that you and I could be in. Seriously, if you combine grace and peace in your life — the greatest position a spiritual life could be in — these two concepts are tied to a major theme in Christ. And you should all be thinking right now: in Christ, united to Christ. These two concepts combine what it is to be in Christ. These two concepts, grace and peace, are the first two spiritual blessings that are mentioned in this rich treasure house. And so we are going to be learning all about these spiritual blessings. To start off with these things, we need to understand what they are.

Grace is the foundation for peace. Charis is grace in the Greek. And eirene is peace in the Greek. And it is more than the absence of war. And so if you are rooted and grounded in grace, and you are grateful for what you do have, and you recognize that your salvation, your sanctification, and even the acts of service that you do are from God — God gives you those things — then from that, peace flows. Peace is a harmonious relationship between you and God. The enmity, the hostility between you and God has been removed, and you have peace between you two. The relationship is like a lazy river. It is just great. It is flowing — the conversations, the singing, everything is just flowing. Life is great between you and God.

And you can certainly know what I am talking about, because if you have a loved one that is perhaps at odds with you, or a spouse or a child that is at odds with you, the relationship is on the rocks. There is hostility and enmity there. But Christ on the cross removed that enmity and that hostility. He removed the sin from your life. He paid for the penalty. And now you have the ability to have peace with God because of His grace. This is a spiritual blessing we could camp on for a year.

Peace is harmony between you and God. It has moved you from condemnation to freedom. It has moved you from guilt to relief. It has moved you from being troubled to settled. It has moved you from being fearful to joyful, from restless to restful. Peace is a joy-filled contentment. You are content in Christ and joy-filled and at peace when you are rooted in grace. And so the Old Testament equivalent to peace, the Hebrews would say, is shalom.

But true peace is deeper than a greeting — either on a hello or a goodbye. True shalom is inner completeness. True peace is salvation and the results of it. It is the wholesome well-being that you have received from God. "Now the God of peace will be with you all." Romans 15:13 — grace and peace. So the combination of these two is the greatest position that you can have. And these two concepts are from being in Christ.

When they are combined, the Greek word for peace, which is from the Jewish idea of shalom, now brings two people groups together. And this is how it happens: you also have the general greeting of the day from the Gentiles, which is expressed by Paul's use of the word "grace." So grace being a greeting that would be more familiar to Gentiles. And peace, shalom, being a greeting that would be more familiar to the Jewish believers. Now you have Gentiles and you have Jewish believers together in a church in Ephesus. Paul ever so brilliantly unites these two groups in Christ.

Grace — Gentiles. And peace — Jews. From God. In Christ we worship.

This greeting is far more meaningful than a shallow hello. The people there in Ephesus would have looked at Paul and said, "This man is from God and he has just ministered to my heart. He has helped this dear congregation who has been divided — from keeping the law, and salvation, and the subjects, and the background upbringing of the Gentiles that is repulsive to the Jews. He cannot eat pork in church — that is repulsive to these guys. Well, you cannot make me keep the law as in salvation. You are wrong." Now all of this hostility between the two groups, all of this lack of peace — Paul, as the spiritual father unto them, says, "To them, grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to you." And now he unites these two groups. You see where I get this uniting greeting here. Paul in his brilliance helps them to see how united in Christ they truly are.

And I am so thrilled that we too have the same peace among us, the same ability to say to our brothers and sisters the wonders that it is to be in Christ. Whether you are a Gentile or a Jew, whether you are an American or a Canadian like Gary, or a South African like Nico, or whether you are a Brazilian like the Sumpayo family and his brother and his family, whether you are Mexican perhaps like Ariana, perhaps Peruvian like Simone, perhaps Asian like Christie, Frank's wife, perhaps like Sam from Egypt, and perhaps like Natalia from Montenegro — all of us united in Christ is one of the most beautiful things about this dear congregation. And if I forgot where you might be from, blame it on my head and not on my heart. I certainly did not mean to.

Jamaica, right, and others — I am telling you, I absolutely love the fact of what God has done here at this church. It is from God. It is one of the things that makes my heart overwhelmingly joyful when I look back at the fellowship that this congregation has with one another, and I want to build you up in that because Paul pursued this unity for the Ephesian church and also for the Colossian church.

He had to tell the Colossian church in Colossians chapter 3 verse 11: "A renewal in which there was no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free man, but Christ is all and in all."

And so he was like the man whom I met in the mountains of North Carolina at Fruitland Baptist Bible College who did not know where he was born or how old he was. I said to him, "How old are you?" He goes, "I do not know." I said, "How can that be?" He goes, "Well, I do not even know where I was born. My family was from Scotland and when they were settling they were somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains. So I have got three states to choose from, and when I was getting my birth certificate I told them my dilemma. I do not know when I was born because my parents did not know either. They did not tell me and they did not even know where they were when I was born. So they said, 'Well, pick a state and pick a date.'" And so he was one who did not know exactly where he was from, and he said to me, "I never forget — where I am from is nowhere near as important as where I am going."

And so for us who have been born somewhere, it is nowhere near as important as who we are in Christ and where we are going.

This greeting is beautiful. "In Himself He might make the two into one, thus establishing peace." Chapter 2 verse 15. Read it with me in Ephesians: "By abolishing in the flesh the enmity, which is the law and commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one, thus establishing peace." This is not only true for the one who had enmity between himself or herself and Christ — and now there is peace there. This is also peace between the Jews and the Gentiles, and only the Apostle Paul could have started off a brilliant letter and accomplished this right up front.

And so the key to peace is in Christ. By being saved by grace, the Jews and the Gentiles viewed one another as one and the same — one family of God. And so Jerusalem had churches who had already put this idea into practice. Their identity was in Christ, not in what their skin color was or not in where they were born. Jerusalem already at this time had house churches with Jews and Gentiles coming together. And we know this because the book of Acts in chapter 6 describes how the Gentile widows would receive care from what was normally set aside for Jewish widows. And so you see how the adjustment from Jewish tradition became in Christ to include Gentile widows. Now that proves a heart change. When your money reflects biblical priorities and has changed — when your money system, your money flow, you are paying for something different, you have adjusted the budget — that proves a heart change, because where your heart is there your treasure is as well, Jesus said.

And so Jerusalem already had this brewing. So Paul was simply telling the Ephesian congregation and the Colossian congregation what was already going on in Jerusalem because of the cross, because of Christ. And now Paul clearly promotes the fact that our identity is in our Savior and not in where we are from and not in the color of our skin. In fact, our value is not skin deep, but that we are redeemed. That is where your value comes from. It is because you have been saved — gloriously saved. Now I wrote in red, red, and I wrote in yellow, yellow, I wrote in black, black, tried to write in white, white — but red and yellow, black and white, we are all precious in His sight.

And it is so true that when we see one another for who we are in Christ, or not in Christ, you see that which is eternal, which is invisible. I asked you a question: what is a soul and where is the soul? Is the soul in the mind? Is it in the heart? Is it in your bowels? Where is the soul? But the most important part of you is not the shell, it is the soul. The most important things in this world are invisible — love, peace, joy, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, beauty and love, salvation, the soul, thoughts, sanctification, character — all of these wonderful things manifest themselves from Christ. And if you are in Christ and you are capitalizing on being in Christ, then your value continues to be on display daily and that is what people need to see.

What false religion is spreading or separating us by our skin color? That is wokeness. Wokeness is a religion and it is dividing. Jewish priests pronounced blessings upon their people just like Paul likewise pronounced a blessing upon all the Ephesians and removed the division among them. And when he said, "Grace and peace," he united the Gentiles and the Jews in one congregation.

Now furthermore, in the Old Testament, wonderful priests — like pastors today — would pronounce a blessing of grace and peace upon their people. I want you to see how this greeting in Ephesians chapter 1 is like pronouncing a blessing upon the hearers. I am going to read it again and I want you to hear it for what it is.

In verse 1 and 2: "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus." That is a matter of fact, a matter of fact, a matter of fact, a matter of fact. But now here is a pronouncement of a blessing upon the people: "Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

See, Paul is now further identifying himself as a Benjaminite — a prior Jew. And it would have been so wonderful if he, in his bilingual ways, perhaps pronounced it in maybe Aramaic and then in Hebrew as well, a blessing upon them to echo Numbers chapter 6. Numbers chapter 6 verses 23 to 26 is his echo. He is saying the same blessing as when they would pronounce, to keep you and God would shine upon you and be gracious to you in Numbers chapter 6. And so Paul is pronouncing a blessing that would be heartwarming and well received to the converted Jews.

So the Jews, who perhaps may be outnumbered by the Gentiles in the church, are now feeling at home and unified in the church. And now Paul is doing this on purpose, and it would have communicated that Paul — a Jewish man of the tribe of Benjamin — truly feels the love for the church at Ephesus, just like a priest also was called by God to love and lead the people in the ways and the worship of God. And so the same way the priest in the Old Testament would love the Jews, Paul is loving the Jews. As a priest loved God and His people, Paul loved God and His people.

This meaningful touch would have been meaningful for the Jews and it certainly further made all that Paul said in this letter very impactful. He most certainly had their ear now. They would pay close attention to the rest of this letter — I guarantee it. And so the hearts of the Ephesian congregation, especially the Jews, were wide open to Paul.

And Paul loved the Jewish people so much so that he was genuinely willing not only to suffer but to die eternally — a fate away from God — only if they could truly believe in Christ. Paul is not superficial. When he genuinely loves the Jews and the Gentiles, he is coming from a standpoint of willingness to suffer eternally separated from God only if the Jews could believe as well. That is Romans chapter 9 and verse 3. Paul said that if he could die so that the Jews would believe, then he would do so. So he is, in fact, uniting the people there in the church.

And that is glorious because we live in a divided day. We live not in the United States of America but the divided states of America. And in our country we have churches that are also being divided, especially by Wokism. So what divides the people of God? Wokism is poison. Personal value that is skin deep. And so if you have anything in your work or in your school that is making you think differently about someone because of their skin color, that is a woke philosophy and it is to be rebuked and called out. Christians need to stand upon what is right and not allow this Wokism to creep in.

If you have family members who are in a church who have done this — and I want to give you an example, a real life example of a church 12 miles from here — if you have family members that are in a church where the leader has told everybody to stand up, and if you are white, step all the way to the back of the room, if you are black, step all the way to the front of the room, if you are Asian, be in the middle of the room — if you have had anybody do these types of woke exercises and then say that one owes another reparations or payments or promotions, this woke ideology has crept into churches and it needs to be rebuked.

Colossians chapter 2 verse 8 says to beware of philosophies of men. These heresies creep in and they are intended to divide the people of God. But in heaven we are going to have all nations around the throne. And in this church we are going to have all nations represented and celebrated and wondrous because we are one in Christ. Paul was working hard for that to happen in the Ephesian and Colossian church. Are you working hard so that that stays here in our congregation? You had better be going out of your way to greet people whom you do not know. You had better be going out of your way to make people feel comfortable in this house of God. You had better be getting to know people who are not like you. That is godly. And you had better put forth the effort like Paul puts forth the effort to unite the people of God. Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to you. Welcome. You are here. I am so glad you are here. Grace to you. Welcome. Embrace people.

Furthermore, do not worry about your preferences. You should not give one flip as to what you prefer as to what you put in your mouth and what touches your tongue. You should prefer what is best for the church. I do not want to hear any complaining about, "Oh, we need to have this because I like it better."

We need to be very humble and grateful Christians and celebrate the fact that everybody is here continually. I have not sensed an ounce of this problem here. I want to continue to affirm you in it because what we have here is beautiful and must be protected. Satan will come against us in that way if he can. But we are being educated here on how to protect the unity of this dear congregation, and it takes all of us — not just the pastor, not just the elders, not just deacons, not just Bible study teachers — it takes a community.

They turned the whole worship center into the choir, the same as we are turning everyone here into unifiers. We must take this on personally and do the work of uniting people and to make sure that they all feel welcome as they come into the house of God and learn more about Him. Divisions among the people — God hates. Proverbs chapter 6 gives the things that God hates. Verses 16 to 19 — divisions among the brethren are listed in the seven things that God hates.

And so in conclusion, I want to give you quickly six things that you can take home from today's message.

Number one, grace is from God. You have got to remember that grace, salvation — your salvation — is from God. If you think that you earned it, if you think that you chose it, if you think that you deserve it in some way, if you think somehow that you are good, there is a really good chance that you do not know the true grace of God. Because I can choose where I want to go to lunch this afternoon, but I cannot choose to eradicate the sin in my life. I cannot choose to forgive the iniquities that placed Christ on the cross. I cannot remove the penalty. I cannot do that. There is nothing in me that can do that. In fact, no one can. Romans 3:11 says that none seek Him. Only God's grace from God can do that. And so grace is from God. It is not a cheap grace. It is an expensive grace.

Number two, pursue Christ for peace. As a Christian, do not get caught up or influenced in the ways of the world and do not be envious or covetous of those who perhaps gain a fun day in worldliness and try that. Do not do that. Stay in Christ. Pursue Christ for peace. When you are not at peace, pursue Christ. When you lose peace and you feel turmoil, pursue Christ. You can just simply read the Scriptures out loud and I guarantee you will feel the peace that surpasses all understanding as you just simply read the powerful, all-sustaining Scriptures, the life-giving Scriptures. Stand up, read the Bible out loud, pray to your Father, and peace will come upon you. I guarantee it. That is what the Bible says in Philippians 4 verses 6 and 7. You pray, peace will come. Seek Christ for it.

Number three, ground yourself in God's grace. Ground yourself in God's grace. How? Well, you remain in the Word. So happy to see that our parking lot is full in the morning and going to Bible study. We have just as many cars nearly in the parking lot for Bible study as we do for worship. That is a very good sign for a healthy congregation. Those who are engaged in Bible study and rooted in a small group community that is studying verse by verse and sometimes word by word the Word of God are truly accountable to one another and they are dependable each week to encourage one another.

Be strengthened. You know that strength comes from fellowship, from the brethren. And so being separated, you are weak. But being together, you are strong. And you need a Christian community of like-minded believers to continue to help you — what the Scriptures say, to encourage you in your spiritual growth. Ground yourself in grace by staying and remaining in God's Word. Remain under the teaching of God's Word. Continue in the Word. Love the Word. Psalm 19 talks about the Word of God. Psalm 119 talks about the Word of God. Our main verse around here is John 8:31: "Continue in the Word and so prove that you are a disciple of mine."

So ground yourself in God's grace by remaining in the Word. And if you are steadily studying God's Word, then you are going to be grounded in God's grace because that is what you are constantly putting into your heart and that is what is dominating your emotions. That is what is causing your thoughts — what you put in is what you get. So discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, the Bible says in 1 Timothy 4:7. Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. If you are not regularly studying the Bible, then put it on the calendar every single day that you need to study the Bible — at least three or four times a week for an hour. That is basic.

Study the Word of God. Continue in it. So prove you are a disciple of mine, John 8:31. Ground yourself. And as you do that, as you discipline yourself to do that, whether you have got to get up an extra hour in the morning or stay up an extra hour late at night or fast your lunch break and study all the way through, whatever you have got to do, ground yourself and you will grow spiritually — I promise you.

Number four, fathers and pastors, I am speaking to you. And single mothers, if this is your case, pronounce blessings upon your family. Paul simply says, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." If you would pray with your kids and pronounce a blessing upon them — "May the Lord bless you and keep you and His face shine upon you" — pronounce a blessing upon them like Paul pronounced a blessing upon the Jews and the Gentiles and the church there at Ephesus.

We need to revitalize this idea of fatherly leadership in the home. And may I encourage you wives to ask your husbands, "Hey, could you read Scripture and then pray for the family?" May you encourage your husband to lead the family spiritually. This is God's design. You say, "Well, how does that really work?" It works. God's designs work. Look at marriage. Marriage works. Look at when you raise your children in the admonition of the Lord. That works. Look at when we do church the way God designed it. It works. Look at the solar system. Look at the planet. Look at everything. It works. God's designs work.

And God designed the husband, the father, to be the head of the household and to lead spiritually, and to have a wife as a helpmate. And wives, if you will help your husband fulfill his God-ordained duty as the priest of the home, your home will be happier and healthier and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will be yours. I promise you, God's designs work. Just look at how Satan is attacking God's design of marriage and the family. And it works. People are very irrational and confused and sinful when they redefine marriage and family. When you change God's design and you do not adhere to it, then chaos and confusion and irrationality become who you are on the inside. You can displace that with Christ and with the Word of God.

When you encourage wives to encourage their husbands to read the Scriptures out loud and to pray with their family — perhaps even pronounce a blessing upon their family — at least once a week, twice a week, just kind of get into that family worship routine. And you watch how God will do amazing things. A year is going by fast these days. In one year, everything could be different in your home for the betterment.

Number five, spread God's grace and peace indiscriminately. Spread God's grace and peace indiscriminately. Do not shy away from someone by way of discrimination for any reason at all. Perhaps their position in life may be different from the position that you have been gifted by God for. Do not discriminate and withhold grace from a person because of where their status may be financially. They may have a different size home than you do or a different kind of vehicle. Who cares? Do not discriminate. They may speak a different language or have a different skin color. Do not discriminate. Disperse God's grace and His peace indiscriminately. That is an observation from the text.

And so whatever shade of skin they have, Jesus is saying, "Come on in. It does not matter. You are an image bearer." And when we see people as image bearers in the likeness of God, you see past all of these worldly divisions and straight through the eyes to the heart and soul, and you are able to truly minister and have conversations that are life changing.

Number six, be intentionally creating unity within the body. Be intentionally creating unity within the body. We pray in the mornings with men here on Sunday mornings and one of our regular prayers is that we would set aside all of the foolishness and shallow talk and be spiritual men of God who lead conversations into Christ. Forget about NASCAR and football and everything else.

It is Sunday, the Lord's Day, and we are in God's house. And so we are not going to be given to wasting time and talking about silly things that mean nothing at the end of the day, but we are going to connect with people and take them straight to Christ as fast as we can. And so we want to steer the conversations toward Christ as fast as we possibly can. And we pray about that. If you do that indiscriminately, you will be intentionally creating unity within the body. You will be grabbing on to people and ushering them into the presence of Christ and into the fellowship of the saints, and they will feel and understand what it is to truly be among true brethren, true sisters.

This last Thanksgiving, maybe you would have rather been around church family than some of your cantankerous family. I do not know. All of us who are true Christians have that draw. You are like, "Man, I love my church. I love my church family. I love being there. And I cannot wait to get back there again." In fact, we just took a winter siesta from our Wednesday night Bible studies, and that is so heart agonizing to take just a couple of months off from Bible study. We look forward to getting back in February where we fire it back up again. But it just seems logical to give the church family time to schedule other things during the Christmas season. Lots of things going on. I just say that because those of us who are having that intimate fellowship are truly blessed.

And so in conclusion, who do you need to do a better job at spreading and sharing the grace and peace of God to? It is a personal question by way of application. Who do you need to do a better job of spreading indiscriminately the grace and peace of God? Have you been looking for peace in all the wrong places? Do you lack this peace from God that we are talking about? And then as well, are you grounded in God? Is who you are and how you function grounded in the grace of God?

Pray with me. Father, thank You so much for today. These simple observations from this salutation are revealing. They are helpful. They are tremendously even challenging. I pray, God, that as we have now learned about how You worked through Paul to say grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, that we would be about the business of unifying those who would have understood grace like the Gentiles would in that type of greeting, and those who would have understood shalom or peace by way of the Jews — how Paul united the two groups and removed the dividing barrier between them.

I hope, dear God, that we would also be like the Apostle Paul. He said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 to be like him until we can be like Christ. And Father, I pray that we would emulate the spiritual pursuits and strategies that he has given us to further Your kingdom work. Thank You, dear Jesus, for the wonderful beauties that You have given us here at this dear congregation. I pray a continual grace about us, a continual peace among us. And I pray, God, that we would continually give You glory for our salvation, for it is from You, and continue to give You glory for the peace that we have. Lord, it could be taken away in an instant if we take our eyes off of You. So help us, dear God, to always keep our eyes upon You.

And I pray, Lord, that if anyone here has not received Your grace, I pray that they would understand that salvation comes from You. I pray that they would understand that only You can make a dead person alive. And I pray, Lord, that if they perhaps are being falsely converted — having said a shallow prayer as a child and even perhaps been baptized outside of being a believer — I pray that they would be willing to be completely right with You and ask You for Your grace, that they would repent of their sin and say, "Father, I am so sorry that I caused You to have to be slaughtered like a lamb. You are innocent and I was guilty and yet You took my punishment. God, forgive me. Forgive me and save me."

Father, if there is anyone here who has never been convicted by Your Holy Spirit, I pray, Lord, that Your gentle and loving and kind ways would lead them closer to You and be the help that they need. And, Father, I pray that if anyone here has not received Your grace, Your saving grace, that they would by faith place their trust in You and not in themselves and not in their goodness in any way at all. And if anyone here is apart from Your peace, Lord, I pray that they would see that Paul says that peace is also from You and that they would seek You and ask You for it.

And Lord, also by way of observation, we see that Paul was in prison when he wrote the prison epistles and he was able to disperse peace to them in his writings. Father, we thank You so much for this dear congregation and how we are taking it slow and learning all we can about You. And we give You all the glory and the praise and the honor. In Jesus' name we do pray. Amen.