Let’s begin this morning by reminding ourselves of some important aspects of the fruit of the Spirit.
THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
1) Is demonstrated by being not doing
2) Is developed as Christ followers cooperate with the Holy Spirit
3) Is to be delightful to an unbelieving world
The way we do that as a body is reflected in two aspects of our life together in the body:
• The way we treat each other
• Our corporate worship
Today we’ll be focusing on peace as one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. This morning’s story from Home Town Tales is called “History Lessons”.
[Read story]
THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS…PEACE
As we have discovered with the first two aspects of the fruit of the Spirit – love and joy – we must begin by defining the term “peace.” If we look that word up in one of our English dictionaries, the most common definitions would be something like these:
• the absence of war or other hostilities
• a state of harmony between people or groups
• freedom from strife
• a state of stillness, silence or serenity
While there is certainly nothing wrong with those definitions, they fall short of describing the Biblical concept of peace.
In the Old Testament, the concept of peace is usually expressed by the Hebrew word “shalom”, a word that was used as a typical greeting among the Hebrews. That word conveys much more than just an absence of conflict. It was used to describe a state of well-being, wholeness and harmony that infuses all of one’s relationships.
The New Testament Greek word most often translated as "peace" is “eirene”. Although that word originally meant “the absence of conflict”, it was used by the New Testament writers as the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew idea of “shalom.” Thus it also indicates that which makes for man’s highest good and brings fulfillment and wholeness to one’s life.
Biblical peace is always a product of God’s involvement in our lives, but it is so total and profound that it touches on every area of our lives – our relationship with God, our inner self, our relationships with other believers and our interactions with the world at large. Not surprisingly, the Bible rarely, if ever pictures peace as merely some kind of “inner contentment” or a purely mental state. It is just not possible to be at peace only with oneself and experience Biblical peace.
Although every element of the fruit of the Spirit is far more than just some character trait to be developed in our individual lives, it is the element of peace that best demonstrates for us the necessity of developing these attributes as a corporate body.
It’s not hard to see why a body of believers who exhibits peace among its members is attractive to an unbelieving world. Most people are searching for the kind of wholeness and fulfillment that characterizes Biblical peace. That’s why bookstores have such large self-help sections or why people watch Oprah and Dr. Phil in such large numbers. It’s why someone would risk their life in a sweat lodge ceremony in Sedona because they saw a website that promised to help them “create harmonic wealth” in all areas of their lives [jamesray.com].
It’s also obvious why a church that fails to demonstrate peace in the body can be one of the biggest obstacles to people entering into the kingdom of God. Most people instinctively avoid conflict and when they observe it in a local church body, that is the last place they are going to want to go.
So let’s see what the Bible teaches us about how we can develop peace in the way we treat each other and in our corporate worship.
• Developing peace in the way we treat each other
Turn in your Bibles to the Book of Ephesians, chapter 2. This is probably the most comprehensive passage in Scripture regarding how to develop Biblical peace in the body of Christ. You can follow along as I begin reading in verse 11:
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands - 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
We’ll develop three principles from this passage:
1) Focus on what we have in common, while celebrating our uniqueness
If Jesus could make peace between two such disparate groups as the Jews and the Gentiles, then He can certainly bridge whatever differences we might have with others in the body. These two groups could not have been more divided. The Jews derisively referred to the Gentiles as “the uncircumcision” and Paul describes how the Gentiles had once been alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and had no hope.
But what Jesus did was to give both groups something they could share in common – Himself. He is the peace who made the two groups one by breaking down the wall of hostility that separated them. The Jews and the Gentiles were able to be reconciled to each other and develop Biblical peace because they were first reconciled to God through Jesus. As a result, they were able to work together to develop the wholeness and fulfilling life that characterized the Ephesian church and made it such an attractive place to those outside the church.
Because both groups focused on what they had in common, they could still maintain their distinctiveness without those differences becoming a point of contention in the body. In fact true Biblical peace actually allows us to maintain our uniqueness while at the same time maintaining our unity. That is demonstrated by the fact that the church is so frequently pictured as a body with unique parts that all work together for the common good:
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Romans 12:4, 5 (ESV)
Here at Thornydale Family Church, we develop peace by first of all focusing on that which we have in common – Jesus and the great salvation that He has provided for each one of us. But we should also be grateful for the uniqueness of each person in the body. We should celebrate the fact that God has not created us to be a bunch of mind-numbed robots who are all the same. We need to recognize that it is our uniqueness that brings life and color and indeed completeness and fullness to our body life.
2) Don’t rebuild the walls that Jesus has broken down
I love the pictures that Paul uses in this passage to describe the barriers that Jesus has torn down. In verse 14 Paul describes how He has broken down the wall of hostility that once existed between Jews and Gentiles and in verse 16 he writes that Jesus “killed” the hostility – certainly an interesting play on words.
I’m reminded of the destruction of the Berlin Wall that for 28 years divided East and West Berlin. The destruction of that wall beginning on November 9, 1989 led to the reunification of the two Germanys less than a year later. Certainly today no one would argue that the wall should be rebuilt.
But I wonder how many times in our relationships with others in the body that we rebuild some of the walls that Jesus has torn down. Rather than celebrating our uniqueness and the fullness that it brings to our body, we instead let our differences build walls between us once again.
One of the most common ways that we rebuild walls that Jesus has torn down is through self-righteousness. As we can see from this passage, one of the greatest causes of hostility between the Jews and Gentiles was the Law. Although the Law itself was certainly not a bad thing, the Jewish religious leaders had added so many of their own interpretations that it became a self-righteous, holier-than-thou demand upon others. And at the same time these same religious leaders refused to recognize the need to deal with their own sin. So Jesus removed that self-righteous application of the Law so that both Jews and Gentiles could see their need for forgiveness and grace.
So when we begin to engage in self-righteousness and insist that there is nothing at all that we need to change, and that the other person is wrong, we put back up all those walls that Jesus came to demolish. Like so many other aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, peace requires true humility that places the interests of others ahead of our own. That is the only way we can avoid rebuilding the walls of separation that rob us of our peace.
3) Pursue mutual edification
Notice in verse 22 Paul writes that the body is being “built together into a dwelling place for God.” But unfortunately, we live in a culture which encourages us not to work towards the common good, but rather to “look out for number one”. We see this in all areas of our culture, but especially in the political realm. In fifty years, we have gone from “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” to “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Notice the shift from the corporate good to the individual?
And the church is certainly not immune to those trends. Instead of focusing on what’s good for building up the body as a whole, the tendency is to concentrate on how I’m going to be fed and built up rather than on what I can do to promote the mutual edification of every member of the body.
Like so many other areas in life, it is certainly true that when it comes to the local church, we are only as strong as the weakest link. As Paul writes:
If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
1 Corinthians 12:26 (ESV)
Since that is the case, then the only way for us to develop true Biblical peace within the body is to do what we can to make sure that everyone experiences the wholeness and well-being that characterize that kind of peace. And that means that all of us must be willing to yield our own self-interest to what is good for the body as a whole. Paul reinforces the connection between mutual edification and peace in his letter to the Romans:
So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
Romans 14:19 (ESV)
When we’re able to get the focus off of ourselves and pursue that which is profitable for the development of the body as a whole, then we will be much more likely to have a body where Biblical peace operates in a manner that is attractive the world around us.
• Developing peace in our worship
1) Maintain appropriate order in our worship
There were clearly some problems with the corporate worship of the early church in Corinth that Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 14. Apparently those worship services had become kind of a free-for-all in which pretty much anyone who wanted could get up and speak or sing a song or interpret Scripture. But obviously that kind of atmosphere led to chaos and confusion rather than peace.
So in that chapter Paul gives various instructions for how the worship service was to be conducted. Unfortunately that particular passage has become a source of some controversy in the church, but all of that controversy would easily be avoided if we would focus less on the details of what Paul commands and more on the overall principle that we find near the end of what Paul writes there:
For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
1 Corinthians 14:33 (ESV)
And then a few verses later Paul ends his writing on this topic with these words:
But all things should be done decently and in order.
1 Corinthians 14:40 (ESV)
The main reason that Paul had to address issues like speaking in tongues and a woman’s place in church was that the worship services had become so chaotic that outsiders who came into those services were confused and had no opportunity to hear a clear exposition of the Scriptures and presentation of the gospel. That was certainly not something that was attractive to anyone who had heard about Jesus and was coming to learn more about Him and the salvation He offers.
That’s why so much work goes on behind the scenes each week to make sure that our worship services maintain order while still providing enough flexibility for the working of the Holy Spirit in our midst. Each week, the people involved in planning and carrying out the various aspects of our worship services spend many hours praying and preparing for the worship service on Sunday in order to make our time together a peaceful encounter with God that is both profitable for us as a body and attractive and meaningful for our guests.
And all of us can help to maintain that appropriate order by doing all that we can to avoid being a disruption or a distraction to others as we worship together.
2) Maintain the significance of baptism in our worship
Far too often baptism is viewed as merely the act of one individual. But the Scriptures actually paint a much different picture. Baptism is far less about the individual than it is about that individual being incorporated into the body of Christ.
Let’s briefly look at several passages that will help us to better understand the corporate aspects of baptism:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:3, 4 (ESV)
You will notice here that baptism is not just an individual act in Paul’s eyes. These two verses are full of the words “us” and “we”, not “I” and “me”. When we are baptized, we not only identify ourselves with Jesus and His death and resurrection, but we are also joining with others who have done the same. In a sense, baptism is the outward sign that we have joined the team, in much the same way that an athlete would signify that he or she is part of a team by wearing the team uniform.
Let’s look at two more verses together since they both address the same aspect of baptism:
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:12, 13 (ESV)
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:27, 28 (ESV)
There is a sense in which the act of baptism serves as an object lesson that helps us to put into practice some of the principles that we talked about earlier. It becomes something that we share in common with other believers. And as Paul points out in both of these passages, it also takes the focus off of of our differences which might easily become blocks that we use to rebuild walls that Jesus has already torn down.
And when we participate in the baptism of others in our body, it also imparts to all of us the responsibility for the spiritual growth and edification of that person. So it also promotes the idea of mutual edification and reduces our natural tendency to focus on what’s in it for me.
This morning God is calling every one of us to be a part of developing genuine Biblical peace in this body. I am convinced that we all need to make a commitment this morning to do our part in that process.
First, let me address those of you who have never committed your life to Jesus. I can tell you with certainty, based on the words of Scripture, that you will never experience peace in your life until you make peace with God. And the only way you can make peace with God is by placing your faith in Jesus alone as the means for you to be reconciled to God. If you’ve never done that, then I pray you won’t leave here this morning until you’ve at least started that process. I encourage you to talk to me or one of the other elders after the service. Or you can complete the information on the flap of the bulletin and place it in the offering plate or give it to one of our elders or greeters and we’ll get in touch with you to discuss how you can be assured of peace with God.
For the rest of us, there are several other possible commitments that we need to consider this morning. Maybe you need to commit to celebrating the uniqueness of the people in this body rather than allowing our uniqueness to become something we use to rebuild walls that Jesus has broken down. Maybe you need to recognize your own self-righteousness and confess that to God and to anyone else in this body that you may have offended. Maybe you need to get your focus off of what’s best for you and on to what’s best for the body as a whole. Maybe you need to look for ways to help edify others rather than waiting for someone to feed you. Maybe you will have to make some changes so that you don’t become a distraction or a disruption when we gather together as a body to worship.
And finally, if you’ve never been incorporated into the body through baptism, I really want to encourage you to take that step, not only for your own good, but for the good of our entire body. If you’d like to do that, you can talk to me or to any of our elders and we’ll arrange for you to let our body share in the joy of your salvation.
