Peace In The Family Of God

18, April 2004

Dakota Community Church

Peace in the Family of God

1Peter 2: 1-12

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

4As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-- 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says:

"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him

will never be put to shame." 7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

"The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, " 8and,

"A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for.

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

2Corinthians 6:

14Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

"I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

17Therefore

"Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you."

18"I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,

Says the LORD Almighty."

I think we all understand that there is supposed to be a great difference between the lives of believers and the lives of unbelievers.

Sadly that difference is not always clearly evident in fact in many instances the church appears to be less virtuous than the best of the world around us.

Jesus came to reintroduce peace on the earth, an end to the war between God and man.

Luke 2: 13-14

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Romans 5: 1-2

1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

This peace with God is to be reflected in our dealing with one another and in the way we live our lives.

Romans 14: 17-18

17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

- Not a matter of personal needs

- Not about looking out for self

- It’s about outward focus

Matthew 5: 9

9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

- They will be called or recognized as the Sons of God.

Questions:

Are you a peacemaker?

What does a peacemaker do?

What are the qualities we want to display?

Understand that these are not personality issues, where you disagree you need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

1. Peacemakers possess a positive attitude.

You will not hear a successful peacemaker say things like:

“This will never work out as long as there are Muslims, the Israelis should just nuke the whole Gaza strip and be done with it.”

- A positive attitude means speaking words of life.

- Harsh words are an end of peace in any environment.

2Corinthians 4: 6

6For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.