6/8/19
Tom Lowe
LESSON VC3: LET GOD'S PEACE RULE IN YOUR HEARTS, AND BE THANKFUL
SCRIPTURE: COLOSSIANS 3:15 (NIV)
Let the peace of Christ{1] rule{2] in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
INTRODUCTION:
This verse continues Paul’s exhortation to the believers in the Colossian church, admonishing them to allow the peace of Christ to rule and reign in their hearts. The peace of which Paul speaks here goes much deeper than just peace among brethren and harmony in the local assembly. With Paul, peace is synonymous with happiness.
LESSON VC3
(3:15) LET THE PEACE OF CHRIST RULE IN YOUR HEARTS, SINCE AS MEMBERS OF ONE BODY YOU WERE CALLED TO PEACE. AND BE THANKFUL.
This verse is often used as a proof text by those who are attempting to determine God’s will. The idea is that God personally directs a believer’s life through an experience of inward peace {1]. There is no doubt that God does give His peace to His children (Rom. 5:1 {3]; Phil 4:6-7). However, Paul’s point in this text is that believers must make peace a priority in the church. The word “RULE” {2] indicates that peace should be the umpire, the deciding factor in our relationships with each other.
Certainly, nothing would destroy such peace more quickly than for a believer to indulge in those foul, despicable passions against which Paul warns all believers in verses 5-9. By the same token, there is nothing as conducive to purity and the permanence of peace as for the believer to cultivate the graces named in verses 12, 13 and 14. Paul is simply saying, “You have dropped the angry passions and vices that are the fruits of unbelief and have put on the graces and virtues which the love of God provides. Therefore the peace of Christ shall reign within you, and since the peace of Christ reigns within you, His peace produces happiness that will be expressed in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.”
This command, “LET PEACE RULE,” is rooted in the objective peace Christ has already achieved. He paid the price of His own blood to secure universal shalom (i.e., completeness, wholeness, wellness) by reconciling heaven and earth with their maker (Col. 1:20). We see the significance of this peace when we consider the world of pain, violence, and evil all around us and the guilt and fear within us. So thanks be to God who has “forgiven (us) all trespasses” (2:13) and reconciled us “that were sometime alienated and enemies . . . by wicked works” (1:21). The reality of our peace with God provides the basis of our unity with one another. Peace denotes a calm mind and a yielded spirit, not easily upset or disturbed by adversity; a heart, mind, and spirit not overshadowed or darkened by sin and a guilty conscience. Paul is speaking of the peace that removes the fear of death and dread of meeting God: “Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on (Jesus)” (Isaiah 26:3). Believers are not to just possess this peace, but they are to allow the peace of God to rule in their hearts in undisputed and uninterrupted supremacy. Christ’s peace is to be in complete control, the absolute ruler in the heart of the Christian.
Christ is the head of the church and He reigns over a kingdom of peace (Isa. 9:6), therefore, it would be wrong for Christians who have been reconciled to God to be living with unreconciled relationships and unresolved conflicts within the body. Peace should preside over the church's fellowship and rule against any attempt to destroy the church's unity. Paul gave the theological reason for maintaining peace in the church when he said, “AS MEMBERS OF ONE BODY YOU WERE CALLED TO PEACE”; peace, if it has the freedom to decide, direct and control will resolve all conflicts, peace is the purpose of their organization in one body.
If the peace of Jesus Christ is the umpire in any man’s heart, then, when feelings clash and we are pulled in two directions at the same time, the decision of Jesus Christ will keep us in the way of love and the Church will remain the one body it is meant to be. The way to right action is to appoint Jesus Christ as the arbiter between the conflicting emotions in our hearts; and if we accept His decisions, we cannot go wrong.
The church is equipped to be an outpost of God’s peace, pointing ahead to the time when shalom will fill the entire earth. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls “peacemakers . . . the children of God” (Matt. 5:9).
The peace Paul speaks of here is God’s gift?man cannot cultivate nor produce this gift by good living or by good works. All believers are called to this peace: “since as members of one body you were called to peace.”
Verse 15 closes with this command, “AND BE THANKFUL.” Certainly, any person can be happy and thankful when all goes well, and everyone speaks well of him; but the Christian is to “give thanks in all things.” The only person who can smile through a veil of tears and praise God in the midst of tragedy is a born again, Spirit-filled, fully surrendered child of God.
SPECIAL NOTES AND SCRIPTURE
[1} The Greek word that is used here for “peace” refers to both the call of God to salvation and consequent peace with Him and to the attitude of rest or security (Phil. 4:7) believers have because of that eternal peace.
[2} Rule, in this case, means either, (1) be an umpire; decide; direct and control or (2) God’s peace is to rule and preside over the church, Christ’s “one body.”
[3} “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Rom. 5:1).
