Peace
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8,9 (NIV)
I wrote about peace and my need for it in the last post, and this post continues that discussion. In verse seven, just before the above quote, Paul speaks of the peace of God, and its presence and help in our lives. So now, two verses later, in verse nine, he again speaks of God and His peace. Only this time it is “God of peace,” and previously it was the “peace of God. They both sound good to me.
We are usually reminded of this passage because of the things we are told to think about—true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy things , but these two verses end with “And the God of peace will be with you.” For me, that moves the emphasis from the things we are to think about to the presence of the God of peace. Paul tells us that if we think on these awesome things, our minds will have no room for negative thoughts, nor worries, nor anxieties because the God of peace will be with us.
As was my search in my previous posting, I am looking for peace, and here I have been told that the God of peace will be with me. What a great combination we have in these few verses, Philippians 4:4-9, the “peace of God” and the “God of peace.” So, be still my soul, when you have need to get rid of worry and anxiety, read these six verses and be blessed by God and His peace.
When I think of these verses and back them up with John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (NIV), I am greatly buoyed up. So I can say to my mind and to my heart, “You have the peace of God from the God of peace, and you have been given peace directly from Jesus. Now, FRET NOT!”
Peace
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV)
I have been dealing with a problem that has persisted for close to a year, and it has caused me much anxiety. I know Psalm 27 tells us several times to “fret not,” but I’ve had difficulty doing that. Paul’s words to the Philippians (quoted above) were more able to bring me peace. There is no evil person behind my difficulty; it is a misunderstanding that was supposed to have been resolved several times during the past year, but just when I thought it was handled, it popped up again. This has happened month after month, and it has been weighing on my mind. Because I have prayed about it but, it hasn’t yet been resolved, my tendency is to believe that my faith is not strong enough to conquer this problem. God has told me that He is taking care of it, but every time it pops up, I think it’s because I haven’t believed strongly enough. So, I’m in a spiral, but I think these words from Paul will help me.
If I follow what Paul says, I will have the peace of God, not just the peace of man. If I will rejoice always, that will get my mind off the problem. If I will show my gentleness, it will be returned to me, if from no one else, it will be returned to me by God. Now the hard part for me, “Do not be anxious about anything.” But I think if I will follow all of Paul’s other instructions, the anxiousness will be washed away. When I present my problem to God in prayer WITH THANKSGIVING, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus. Peace from God will be mine not only in my heart, but also in my mind. And His peace “transcends all understanding.” I don’t have to understand where the peace comes from, and I don’t have to understand why I have His peace. It’s just mine, and it came from God! “Problem, quit bothering me! I’m rejoicing in the peace of God!”
“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:4,5 (NIV)
I really enjoy listening to Christian singing groups, particularly those who sing acapella. Solos can be beautiful and stirring, but there is something about the dynamic of groups singing harmony that touches my heart. I enjoy trying to figure out who is singing which part, but sometimes it is not easy to do because the blend is so beautiful. It takes close listening and close watching of expressions and mouth movements to know who is who. I spent a long time listening to several groups the other day and was greatly blessed by them.
To be effective as an acapella singing group, each singer must put as much effort in listening as he/she does in singing. If a singer cannot hear the other voices, chances are that his/her voice may be dominant, disturbing the overall blend. Even when singing a solo with the rest providing background, the soloist must listen to the others to make sure that the total sound is the best it can be. The word “harmony” even has a pleasant sound. Webster’s New World dictionary defines “harmony” as “a combination of parts into a pleasing or orderly whole.” That certainly describes my favorite, which is four-part harmony. Successful quartets are known by the group name without undue emphasis on any one singer. The group is know as a group not four individuals. It seems that harmony takes effort. Even though some members of a quartet may have an easier time finding the correct or good sounding harmony for his/her part, he/she needs to work with all the other members to be sure that the overall sound is harmonious.
After I had spent a long time listening to acapella quartets, the following words came to my mind. I take them as a word from the Lord: “Harmony that is shown in music is the harmony I want throughout my Church and in each individual church. Stop fighting each other! When you sing harmony, you listen for the other voices so that you know you blend and give the best sound. Just be sure that you, as a church, are singing a song that you know I would like and enjoy.” I believe that the harmonious song that God wants to hear is based on the knowledge of the deity of Jesus Christ and His value as Messiah and Savior with the harmony provided by the Holy Scriptures. If I am speaking things that are not supported by the Word of God, or if I am making derogatory statements about other Christian churches whose day-to-day operations aren’t the same as those of my church or who may interpret some portion of scripture differently from what my church does, then I am not in harmony and my song is not pleasing to God. Lord, help me to listen to my brothers and hear their hearts before I criticize them. Lord, help me to be part of the harmony that pleases you.
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Ephesians 4:4-6 (NIV)
There is one body, and that’s us, and this body has been given many gifts of the Spirit. These gifts differ according to the Scripture passage, but here is a list made of those listed in several scriptures: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, fear of God, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues. Perhaps your list contains more. Today, I would like to speak of other gifts or abilities or roles necessary, used, and present in the collection of various churches, depending upon their focus and ministries. It’s a longer list than the one written above and probably not as well known: ushers, pray-ers, greeters, security, singers, AV techs, secretaries, friends, pastors, listeners, treasurers, decorators, youth leaders, schedulers, janitors, kitchen workers, maintenance, service coordinators, children’s teachers, worship leaders, volunteers, volunteer coordinators, copy machine operators, praisers, encouragers, intercessors, intercessory prayer coordinators, Bible study teachers, and receptionists.
Did you find yourself in that list? You should have because some of them are roles and gifts given and needed to be used by all of us in every church. Others are more specific and may not be present in each church. One interesting fact of Christian churches is that when a role needs to be filled, or a task needs to be completed, God taps someone on the shoulder and says, “Here’s your chance to further my kingdom.” Join Isaiah, who said in Isaiah 6:8: “Here am I, Lord, send me.” (NIV) It may not seem to be as important as God’s call to Isaiah, but if it is important enough for God to ask you to do it, then it is important enough to say, “Send me.”
The point is that we are all called by God to fulfill some vital part of His church, but not everyone answers the call, and the church is just not quite as effective as it would be if each of us answers. But remember that our God is a forgiving God, and He will ask you again, giving you the opportunity once more to serve, once more to earn the accolade: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” Matthew 25:21a (NIV)
Please forgive me if I have omitted a role that you are fulfilling in your church. You can be sure that God has noticed and He will express His thanks at some point.
Unity
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:20-23 (NIV)
Jesus prayed this prayer for His disciples, and early in the prayer, He extended it to you and to me. He wants all of us, His followers, to be one as He and the Father are one. Now, that’s unity. In John 5:19 Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does” (NLT). That’s a behavior worth striving for, to do what God the Father does. If we strive for that, we can make great headway in spreading the Gospel everywhere. I don’t think that we will be completely successful in doing only what the Father does, but I do believe that we can do better than we have been doing—at least I can. Jesus asks God that the Son would be in us and that the Father would be in Him, so that we could be brought to “complete unity.” Then the world would know that Jesus was sent from the Father, who loves us as He loves Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for praying that prayer over us.
I am going to assume that God answered that prayer, and that it’s up to us to show the unity of the Church to the world, so that the Great Commission can be completed fabulously. As that prayer is answered, infighting among churches will cease, and we can all agree that Jesus is Lord and Savior for all who are willing to accept Him. We can agree and preach that Jesus is the son of God and the ONLY way to eternal life in heaven. We can have various differences about how we run our churches and even how we run our worship services. Some of us can even sing hymns while others can sing praise and worship choruses. We might even get to appreciate each others’ music. Pastors might even feel comfortable to trade pulpits for a Sunday. Now, remember, we are doing this in the unity described by Jesus in John 17:20-23. It will be great for Christians to feel at home in any church claiming to be Christian.
I know that this may almost seem like a fantasy, but that is what Jesus prayed for, and the Father certainly hears the prayers of Jesus, and I believe that He answers them. If we can do as Jesus asks, and as long as the position of Jesus is the same in each church, we can appreciate the differences in the various churches and maybe we can even get to enjoy them, knowing that not all people need the same type of worship service.
To God be the glory. Great things He hath done!
