Psalm 122 - Going To Worship Series

Likewise, in closing, think about America. America is by no means a place of peace right now. Some even suggest we are at war. We know there are all sorts of divisions. Whether it is race relations, division over gender issues, obviously the political climate, gun control stuff. All these divisive things. The newest division seems to be over whether the pro-football players should be singing the National Anthem. I am not giving an opinion on it. All I am saying is immediately another division was created. Every 24 hours there is a new division created and people are taking sides on things. We do need to pray for America. In announcement time, Debbie is going to talk about an opportunity for people to pray for America. We do need to pray for America. But going back to this passage, he says “For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, ‘Peace be with you.’” For the sake of my brothers, my sisters, my coworkers, peace be with you. What I think he is suggesting is that as you begin to experience peace, you being individually and collectively Christians, as you begin to experience that peace that transforms all understanding, the peace that comes through Jesus Christ, that peace ideally should spill over into the area, into the borough, into the city. So when you go out, you go out like Jesus or at least somebody actually trying to live like Jesus. If you do it long enough, hopefully some of that peace will begin to spill over into others, which means when you go into the world, you don’t choose to engage in all the conflicts out there that you see on Facebook and the internet and all this stuff. Like some Christians do, they feel the need to jump right in the middle of it and give their two cents and all they do is fuel the fire of division. A better option is to be people of peace. People who leave the church, go out into the world to go into the schools and business and as a person of peace so much so that somebody says I noticed there is something different about you. You used to be so angry and so divisive. I have seen you change and you just don’t seem like you used to. Hopefully that will create an opportunity for the person to say where that comes from. Maybe even open the door and invite the person into church. That is what the Great Commission is about. We talked about making disciples. Making disciples is simply about going into the world and being a person of peace. Someone who has changed from within because of what Christ has done for them. Beginning to be the peace in the world so much so that, like Jesus Christ did, when somebody says how can I get this peace, he said “Come follow me and I will show you.” Over time, eventually that person too would be able to mouth the words of the psalms. He would be able to say “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’.” Because it is at the house of the Lord where I found my peace. Let us pray.