Fruit of the Spirit: Peace

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27

Peace is such a broad topic, and I cannot do the subject justice in a single segment. Peace comes from the Hebrew word, shalom. Shalom is defined as wholeness, contentment, prosperity. It literally means to make whole. It means to be healed, body, mind, spirit.

Mark D. Roberts, in his blog, defined peace of Christ well. He said, “

In a nutshell, the peace of God is a by-product of genuine koinônia. If you want to experience more peace, invest yourself more fully in intimate fellowship with God and God's people."

As I’ve pointed out in previous posts, the fruit of the Spirit is perfected in community. In an age when people are leaving the church, whether “good” reasons or not, they are leaving the very thing that Jesus designed to perfect us. It is impossible to fully experience the peace of Christ apart from fellowship His people.

Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace" (Col 3:15)

Loving one another

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1John 3:16

In the last segment I wrote about the need we have to love those within the body of Christ. Jesus Himself commanded that we love one another. I believe it is easier to be a Christian and NOT be in a church. (But, it is not better!!) Why? Because then you don’t have to love the person next to you! You can have these lofty ideas of Christianity, and even rail against the organized church. They’re hypocrites! That’s not real Christianity. God didn’t make the church! The lists of complaints go on and on. There is one slight problem. The Church (those who are committed to Christ and attend some type of organized church) still exists, and has done so for centuries, in spite of the naysayers, who think they’re on the “cutting edge” by saying The Church is in the last days. That also has been said for centuries, yet The Church still marches on.

So if The Church still exists, we then need to examine what God intends for it. Here is one of the points I had in the last sermon: if you are a committed follower of Jesus Christ, you are called to a church, a committed group of believers. There are no lone rangers. Jesus said this is how the world will know you are my disciples, if you love one another. In other words, love the others that are also committed to the cause of Christ, especially those in your church! Why do we need to be part of the Community? Because the Community is a reflection of the image of God, and only within the Community can we become what we were made for. ALL OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS PERFECTED IN COMMUNITY, AND WILL NOT FULLY MANIFEST IN ANYTHING OTHER THAN THAT. YOU AND I WILL NEVER KNOW THE FULL POWER OF GOD APART FROM COMMUNITY.
I am a pastor tired of people leaving because they don’t like what someone said, how leadership is leading or even what the pastor did. If you have left a church due to some kind of issue, go and make it right. Make it right with the pastor, leadership or the other person. It’s not only Scriptural; you will miss out on a blessing that comes from obedience and faithfulness, and doing that will be a whole lot healthier for you! Be The Church, truly love one another. The world will be changed, your neighborhood will be changed, your family will be changed, and you will be changed. There really isn’t another option.

Proof of being a Christian

This is a note I sent to my congregation this week. I’ll post more Scriptures that support the fact that loving the body of Christ is 1) an evidence of being a Christian, and 2) what people who do not yet know Jesus are looking for as evidence of being a Christian. How can Christians possibly proclaim that God is love and have any credibility unless we love each other?

Dear Church,

By this will all know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35

The themes for the sermon series this fall has been the fruit of the Spirit, found in Galatians 5:22, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.” Last week we talked about love.

Jesus said a very interesting statement to His disciples on the night he was betrayed. He said “By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:35).” I’ve always taken that to mean that we were to love people. That’s true, but Jesus was specifically talking to the twelve disciples and He told them that if THEY loved each other, the world would know they were His disciples. It’s as if He said, “look, if the twelve of you can really love each other, the world will know that what you’re living and telling is the real thing.” He was saying that to a group of guys who had lived with each other for 3 years, walked together, ate together, worked together and ministered together. They knew the good as well as the bad about each other. They probably didn’t get along that well at times. This was a very diverse group, from those who rebelled against Rome to those who worked for Rome. There were those who loved others and those who wanted to call fire down from heaven and consume villages. There were those who were content with being part of the group, and those who wanted to be in charge. The Scripture is clear that this was not a group who always got along with each other.

The point is, sometimes it is easier to “love the world”, the nameless people “out there” we don’t know, than the ones sitting in the pew right next to us, or near us. That is why, I believe, Jesus didn’t say anything about proving to be His disciple by loving the world, He said love the person next to you with an unconditional love. That’s how the world will know you Jesus is the real deal. Do you love the people in your church? All the people in your church? Jesus didn’t leave another option (Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 20If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. 1John 4:20-21). For us to make Jesus known to a world indifferent or hostile to Him, we must prove His love by loving each other. Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:20), and in this case, others will know us by our love for one another. Do you need to make a change? Are there some people you have to get things right with? Don’t wait. Prove yourself a disciple of Christ. I’ll see you Sunday.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

Dog the Bounty Hunter and Jesus

One of my favorite shows is “Dog, The Bounty Hunter.” He is passionate, hilarious, a man’s man, and he loves Jesus! There was a statement made last night that was one of his best. His wife, Beth, was trying to find clothes for him to wear. She was extremely frustrated as she shopped for him because he only wears about “two out of ten shirts” she ever picks out. She returns home with an armful of shirts and has Dog try them on (or at least look at them), and he turns all of them down but one. He told her, “you only got one out of ten shirts right this time.” Then the greatest statement of the show,

“I won’t wear anything (shirt) with a name on it except Jesus and Harley Davidson!”

You have to like a guy like that.