Hebrews- Part 13- " Peace- Love And Jesus" Series

Hebrews- Encouragement for a life of faith

Part 13

“Peace, love and Jesus”

Hebrews 12:14-15

In the winter of 1914 all along the western front of World War 1 in an area that covered some 27 miles a strange and very unusual event occurred on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

Books

Movies

And even commercials have been written about this event

It is commonly known as the Christmas truce

On a very cold night after 5 months of heavy fighting

The men of both the German army and the British army

Refused to continue fighting though Christmas

The event started with the Germans singing Christmas carols

With The British soon returning the favor with their own songs

At some point in the night both sides sang silent night

The next day, Christmas day

Soldiers from each side began making their way into what is commonly known as no man’s land

The area between the German trenches and the British trenches

Throughout the day the soldiers from opposing sides

Exchanged gifts of hats, coats, buttons, tobacco and food items

It is reported all up and down the line

Impromptu soccer games broke out

It is also reported that in the heart of a terrible a bloody war

No shots could be heard

And the sound of laughter and singing filled the air

For a short time

There was peace

Today we are going to continue our study of the great book of Hebrews

Our writer has taken us though much soul searching

Toe stomping exhortations

He has mashed on us and stepped on us

And as a result I have done the same to you and to myself

All of this mashing is to get us to a place where God wants us

As we studied last week

Discipline is designed to mold us

Shape us

Into

Better Christians

In the hard topics prayerfully we saw ourselves in a clear light

And prayerfully we took stock of our lives

Took stock of our commitments

And we have been encouraged by what we are doing right

And convicted by the things that the two edged sword of scripture showed us we were doing wrong

-------

In an effort to cause spiritual growth in the readers of Hebrews

Then and now

Our writer moves to another bit of encouragement

Let’s open up to Hebrews 12: 14

In an effort to help us truly receive all God has for us

And in order to get us doing what he has called us to do

He tells us

Verse 14

14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.

Work at living in peace with everyone

Work at living at peace with everyone

Even those we don’t like, there are some

Even those who hate us

Even those who have different views

Opinions

Beliefs

Even those that----

God through our writer does not say

Work at living at peace with those in your church

Or those in your family

Or those you like

He says

Work at living at peace with --- EVERYONE

When we talk about peace in church

When we peach on peace many times we focus on peace with God

We do know that this is important

We need to understand how to have peace with God

Without Jesus we are enemies to God

But Jesus makes us friends

But more importantly Family

God’s children

Next we want to focus on our peace

Peace of heart

Contentment

Peace that comes with a true and life changing relationship with the savior

We need this peace

This peace is a fruit of the spirit

This peace is what helps keep us focused

This peace is what lets me personally get up every morning without fear

And go to sleep at night with contentment

Peace with God is life changing

Peace within is amazing

But

Today our writer is talking about peace that crosses borders

Peace that crosses differences

Peace that causes others to see Jesus when they look at you

Wednesday night we continued our study of Matthew

In this study we heard how Jesus when asked what is the greatest commandment

Say

Matthew 22:36-40

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’[e] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[f] 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Love God above everything, with all you have

And Love your neighbor as yourself

Loving others as we love our selves develops peace