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.
2Corinthians 4: 13
13And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak
- Your words reveal what your heart believes.
- If your heart holds the peace of God your words should line up with it.
If you want a home / church filled with peace:
- Speak positive words about and to your spouse and children or siblings and parents.
- Our boys are not allowed to say hurtful things to each other.
- Everyone has good and bad qualities, which do you talk about?
- That is what is making your life peaceful or stressful.
The sin nature is naturally negative.
Proverbs 4: 18-19
18 The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. 19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: To choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way. Viktor Frankl
Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over our nation’s deserts. All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. We all do. Steve Goodier, Quote Magazine, in Reader’s Digest, May 1990.
2. Peacemakers are diplomatic and others focused.
You cannot approach life like a bull in a china shop if you hope to be a peacemaker.
Diplomacy is:
- The ability to say and do the right thing at the right time:
Address, savoir-faire, tact, tactfulness.
- Peacemakers take on the roll of servant.
- They recognize and seek to meet needs.
What is needed to bring peace to your home?
What needs to be less rigid?
Are you diplomatic and others focused in dealing with the church family?
Romans 12: 9-18
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Two examples of how self-centeredness can be costly:
1. VCR EXAMPLE: In its January 25, l988 issue, TIME provided an insight on selfishness and its corollary, sharing. Speaking about the introduction of the videocassette recorder, the article said, "The Company had made a crucial mistake. While at first Sony kept its Beta technology mostly to itself, JVC, the Japanese inventor of the VHS (format), shared its secret with a raft of other firms. As a result, the market was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the VHS machines being produced."
This drastically undercut Sony’s market share. The first year, Sony lost 40 percent of the market, and by 1987 it controlled only 10 percent. So now Sony has jumped on the VHS bandwagon. While it still continues to make Beta-format VCRs [interestingly a higher quality technology] Sony’s switch to VHS, according to TIME, will likely send Beta machines to "the consumer-electronics graveyard." Even in a cutthroat business, sharing has its rewards.
2. CORN EXAMPLE: Ralph L. Woods: An ambitious farmer, unhappy about the yield of his crops, heard of a highly recommended new seed corn. He bought some and produced a crop that was so abundant his astonished neighbors asked him to sell them a portion of the new seed. But the farmer, afraid that he would lose a profitable competitive advantage, refused.
The second year the new seed did not produce as good a crop, and when the third-year crop was still worse it dawned upon the farmer that his prize corn was being pollinated by the inferior grade of corn from his neighbors’ fields.
As a peacemaker you owe the Lord:
- Others centered conversation.
- Others centered obedience.
- Willingness to take the time to earn trust.
- Willingness to give respect.
- Willingness to listen, to seek to understand.
3. Peacemakers are backed by an authority with power.
We are not on our own in this venture trying to stem the violence of humanity.
We are ambassadors of the world’s greatest superpower!
Five Members of the United Nations Security Council have permanent status and the right to veto proposals, they are: France, China, Russia, Britain, and The United States.
They can make the peace because they can back there opinions with power.
I am not saying you can bully the household because you can bench press the most weight I am saying that you can succeed in bringing the peace because you are backed by the ultimate authority.
Romans 8: 31-39
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Relationship is the key, if you are getting what you need from him you don’t have to fight for your rights.
