October 15, 2011
10:00
The Fruit of the Spirit is Peace.
Part One—Peace on Earth
I have a great group of friends.
Those who I consider to be my closest friends are those who were in the same lifegroup as me ever since its conception two years ago. We are a group of people united in our pursuit of Jesus and live life—as opposed to just once or twice a week—pursuing a more intimate relationship with the Lord together.
Since its conception, we have expanded and “multiplied” to the point where we are now three distinct lifegroups. I’m not sure, but it seems to be that people saw our close community and wanted in on it. How incredible! Because we are such a close group of friends, other people have looked upon us and wanted to join us, and in doing such have pursued a closer relationship with the Lord together. How exceedingly exciting beyond all imagination!
The ones I consider myself to be closest to are the ones who, for the most part, have been around since the beginning. Thus, regardless of the particular lifegroup we are each technically affiliated with at the moment, my closest friends are the ones who were in the original lifegroup, with a few added along the way. My closest friends are members of now three lifegroups, in which we all seek to serve God better day by day. This is often done by pursuing those within our new communities, without losing contact with those in our old communities. It’s truly incredible.
I’ve come to know the true character of God more since joining this lifegroup than I had in the previous eighteen years of my life. I’ve discovered that God is indeed “merciful, gracious, slow to anger, rich in love, good to all, and just.” (Exodus 34:6-8). I’ve discovered this especially because my community, the church—which seeks to reflect the glory of God—is this way, too, to the best of our ability.
In being all these things, though, sometimes we have to have some hard conversations. We had one just a few days ago. This group of people, my closest friends, had to have a rather firm conversation. We had to get together and confess to each other that we had some feelings of anger and bitterness toward each other. We confessed to each other that perhaps one of us had wronged another. We admitted that we weren’t perfect people.
In doing this, we released from ourselves incredible bonds of sin in forms of jealousy, enmity, fits of anger, strife, and the like. You see, simply ignoring problems and living with them as if they weren’t there doesn’t get rid of them. It only allows them to grow in isolation until each problem is too big to hide in its designated closet anymore and breaks into our lives in a gigantic, disruptive manner.
Yet somehow we established peace.
In exposing our faults, in confessing that we had wronged each other in some way, we made way for peace to exist within us by kicking hostility out of the way. Sometimes, you have to work out problems in order to make room for peace.
This is why I don’t like the idea of coexisting very much. If everyone on earth—every tribe, tongue, and nation—were to all sit down in the same room and simply not fight, despite having hard feelings brewing up between us, what kind of peace is that? All you’re doing is letting feelings of hostility brew in isolation and acting otherwise. You’re not exposing your true colors because your true self has hard feelings toward someone, whereas you’re acting otherwise. I don’t think lying to someone is a good foundation for peace.
Coexisting implies peace in actions alone. But that’s not peace. That’s nothing more than a white lie. Peace isn’t simply being unified in action. Peace is being unified in spirit. If two people are unified in action but not spirit, they might be able to get along with each other for a time, but they’ll still have hard feelings against each other. All it takes to turn those emotions into actions is a simple argument. To counter this, if two people are unified in spirit, feelings of hostility likely won’t exist. And if they do, your unity in spirit will provide a means to work out the issues that might exist, as was the case amongst my friends.
This is why peace is a fruit of the Spirit. You can’t obtain peace from mere actions—flesh. You can only obtain peace from unity in spirit.
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Part Two—The Prince of Peace
I think the biggest problem with understanding what peace really is is our misconception of the term. We want peace to mean perfection. We want peace to mean something like “I want everyone to see things my way so that we don’t have to fight anymore.” But that’s not what peace is. Peace is a state of harmony between personal relations, so says Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary. Does any part of that definition imply selfish gain? Does that definition imply that obtaining peace is an effortless project? Like anything else desirable, peace on earth must be worked for.
Working for peace, I think, involves pursuing intentional relationships with those from whom you desire peace. It’s human nature to be wary of a stranger. Why do we often think we can establish peace with someone with whom we have never connected? Peace is unity in spirit, so how can we be unified in spirit with someone with whom you don’t know?
I am certain this is one of the main reasons Christ called us to spread the gospel to all peoples. How else can “world peace” be established? If indeed peace is unity in spirit, let us be unified in the Holy Spirit of the Prince of Peace.
Sometimes it’s hard to understand how Jesus can be the Prince of Peace. Jesus, the very man who called Peter Satan and flipped over the tables in the temple, is himself the Prince of Peace.
How can an angry Jesus be a peaceful Jesus?
It’s just that. You have to work for peace. Look back at my testimonial example. Had my friends and I not gotten together and shared a few hard words, our problems would have further escalated and, if still not managed, would have ultimately damaged (if not destroyed) wonderful relationships. Remember that peace is unity in spirit. You have to work for that. Anger and strong emotions are not always the best means of establishing peace, and I do not support the use of anger to establish peace in most situations. Usually anger is a sign that you want things to go your way. But just on occasion, be angry at the situation. Not the person. Hate the sin, not the sinner.
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Part 3—Benediction
“The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” — Numbers 6:24-26
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” — Romans 16:20
“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” — II Thessalonians 3:16
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foVRP07WOAg
