Tag Archives: peace

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – YOU ARE THE MESSAGE

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YOU ARE THE MESSAGE

“When you enter a home, greet the family, ‘Peace.’ If your greeting is received, then it’s a good place to stay. But if it’s not received, take it back and get out. Don’t impose yourself.

“Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals. Don’t move from house to house looking for the best cook in town.

When you enter a town and are received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tell them, ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!'” Luke 10:5-9.

As one reads Jesus’ instructions over and over, something begins to emerge about His strategy for infiltrating a community with the good news of God’s kingdom. The first thing one notices is His respect for people’s right to choose. He didn’t insist that His disciples bulldoze their way in and force the message on people whether they wanted to listen or not. Everyone had the right to choose whether they accepted or rejected the messengers and their message.

‘Test the water,’ He said. How were they to do that? They were to do it in the disposition of Messiah. ‘Say hello,’ He said but, at the same time, their “hello” conveyed something far deeper than just a causal “hi”. “Shalom”, translated “peace” was both a greeting and a prayer. Shalom is the essence of what God desires and does for those who believe in Him and entrust their lives to Him. His work of restoration produces an inner peace and a wholeness that He intended everyone to experience from the beginning when He created mankind.

If a family responded positively to their greeting, they were to stay there and share the life of that family for the duration of their stay. It was part of Hebrew culture to show hospitality to strangers. It was accepted that a friendly greeting would indicate an open door and a family’s generous attitude towards their guests.

Should the greeting not be returned, they were to move on without making a fuss. It was everyone’s right to choose, and they were not to react ungraciously by retaliating when they were refused hospitality.

They were to receive what was given to them as graciously as their hosts gave and not move on if they were not satisfied with the quality of the hospitality. Being in a home gave them opportunity to interact with the family and minister to their needs, including healing their sick and sharing the good news of God’s kingdom.

The overall impression one gets from Jesus’ instruction is that He was advocating personal interaction with the people of that community. He was not about setting up a big healing and preaching campaign, inviting people to a gathering in the village square. It was about spending time in people’s homes and entering into the family’s life for a while, infiltrating the community with more than just preaching. He was always about being the message, not just telling it.

One cannot dissociate the message from the messenger. Jesus’ way is so unlike the ways of the world, and especially the ways of religion which tries to impose and force its ideas on people whether they like to or not. The message and the messenger are inseparable. It was the message personified in the life of the messenger that would persuade people of the truth, not force it on reluctant or sceptical hearers.

Jesus illustrated the kingdom’s power to infiltrate and transform society in His story of the women who mixed yeast into a lump of dough. He didn’t tell His disciples to leave it to the suitably qualified “professionals” to preach the gospel. He sent all His followers out to spread the good news everywhere that God’s way is the best way to live.

It’s by both life and lip that God’s kingdom comes alive in a community and brings it closer to God’s original idea of a family living together in “shalom” – harmony and wholeness.

Are you doing that?

THE BOOK OF ACTS – IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

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IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

“Some of the Jews convinced the most respected women and leading men of the town that their precious way of life was about to be destroyed. Alarmed, they turned on Paul and Barnabas and forced them to leave. Paul and Barnabas shrugged their shoulders and went on to the next town, Iconium, brimming with joy and the Holy Spirit, two happy disciples.” Acts 13:50-52 (The Message).

Well, now that’s a strange way to react to bad treatment! Why didn’t they fight back to protect their fledgling disciples? These young believers needed much more teaching before they could leave them on their own, yet they had to get out and leave them.

They didn’t have much option, really, if they wanted to stay alive. Their Jewish opponents were ferocious enough to do them in if they resisted. It would seem that law and order was not very well maintained if a mob was allowed to take action against individuals without repercussions.

The attitude of the two missionaries is also astonishing. At this point in their missionary enterprise they didn’t seem to turn a hair at the treatment they were receiving from their fellow Jews. Surprisingly enough it was their own people who harassed and hounded them from city to city, not the pagan Gentiles from whom one would have expected the most resistance.

Instead of being angry and upset at the treatment they had received, they simply moved on to the next city and carried on their work as though nothing had happened. Were they becoming bitter and hardened inside? Not at all! Luke specifically informs his reader that they were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

There is a place in God that allows one to bypass the emotional upheavals that accompany life’s reverses and remain at peace in the middle of them. Like the chicks that are safe and dry under the mother hen’s wings in the storm, these two men knew where to go and what to do when adversity hit them and they found themselves in a hostile environment.

The prophet Isaiah, living in turbulent times with Assyria, a powerful enemy empire from the north bent on world domination and harassing Israel, knew the secret of perfect peace. “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever for the Lord, the Lord is the Rock eternal.” Isaiah 26:3-4 (NIV).

Paul’s experiences on his journey through life taught him the same great lesson. How could he write words like “Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, 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 4:6-7 (NIV), had he not been permitted to go through the things that shaped his confidence in God?

Wherever you are on your journey right now, what is it in your life that is giving you the opportunity to find that resting place in the eye of the storm? You can so easily miss the grace of God and throw away the opportunity to learn to trust, if you are too busy fretting and bucking at your circumstances. God intends for you, in whatever comes your way, to find His peace that covers you in a blanker of protection and confidence in the midst of it so that no storm can ever bother you again.

Like Paul and Barnabas, you can walk away from conflict, opposition, adversity and even rejection with your heart filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit because of your trust in God’s unfailing love.

Close Connections

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CLOSE CONNECTIONS

Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant of the Lord, will tell you everything so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.

Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love (Eph. 6:21-24).

I wonder whether technology with its ease of communication would have killed real communication in Paul’s day as it has in ours. Have you noticed how much social skill we have lost since the advent of email and cell phones? How much easier it is to send an email, a Skype. Whatsapp or text message than to talk to someone face to face! A group of kids (by that I mean teenagers!) can sit together in the same room and talk to each other via cell phone messages rather than sit and chat.

Families don’t know how to resolve their conflicts any longer because each member retreats to his or her room to sit behind the computer screen or to “talk” on their cell phones without uttering a word.

How different it was for Paul and his colleagues in their lives together as believers in Jesus. In two short paragraphs, he gives us an insight how the church across the Roman Empire did life together. It was not trouble for Tychicus to travel hundreds of miles, taking many months to carry a letter from Paul to the church at Ephesus. Paul was incarcerated in a Roman prison, or perhaps still under house arrest but he needed to communicate with his beloved churches in other cities.

There was no postal service and certainly no electronic mail or wireless communication. People were his messengers. People to people carrying information, love and encouragement from one group to another, from one individual to another. Just imagine what it cost Tychicus to go for Paul since he could not go himself.

People mattered. Paul was their spiritual “father”. He has risked a great deal to take the good news of Jesus to Ephesus which was the hotbed of witchcraft and Diana worship. The silversmiths were doing a roaring trade selling their images of the goddess Diana to the superstitious citizens of Ephesus. Paul’s message turned the city upside down, bring the wrath of the business sector down on him. His life was in danger because of the response to the gospel.

Every new believer was precious to him. He loved and nurtured them like a father for three years and never forgot them when he moved on. Evangelism for Paul was much more than holding campaigns in city after city and then leaving the converts to be “followed up” by the churches in those cities. There were no churches. It was Paul’s job to care for them together with his fellow workers in the gospel. And care for them he did!

It was also important to the believers in Ephesus (and in the other cities to which the letter was sent) to get news of Paul in Rome. Did they know that he was once again a prisoner for his faith? Just as he has written to other churches to let them know what was happening to them and to encourage them to persevere in spite of persecution, so he also wanted the Ephesian believers to know what was happening to him.

The gospel message was much more than an insurance policy for heaven. It was a way of life they lived together. Paul made sure that the people of God knew and cared about each other across the miles. They needed each other because the whole world was against them. he wrote to instruct and sent Tychicus to encourage so that they would remain steadfast in their faith and not waver because of the hardships they had to endure for their faith.

Paul also reminded them that they were eternally linked to a Father who loved them and a Saviour who died for them. Through Jesus, they had access to God’s grace which He freely gave to all and which enabled them to endure the hardships and suffering of this life, and the peace which would keep them in whatever they were called to bear.

Nothing can ever take the place of these gifts which come from the Father through the Son. To be sustained by God’s grace and supported by His peace means far more than any outward so-called “peaceful” circumstances which are temporary and transient. God’s love would never fail them, no matter what. In that, they could rest as they loved Him in response.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

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Peace, perfect peace

Christian life

We read in the scriptures when the angel announced the birth of Jesus in Luke 2:13,14 “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill toward all men on whom his favour rests.”

As we observe the situation throughout the world today, we cannot help coming to the conclusion that this is far from the truth. All around us we find people suffering from deep depression due to stress, and anxiety that very often leads to the brink of suicide. Psychiatrists through the use of various drugs try their utmost to combat this disease of the mind, and the search for peace continues. There is only one guarantee for peace, and that is through Jesus, who specializes in cases beyond our control.

John 14: 27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

When your boat on the sea of life is tempest tossed, when the angry waves of circumstances threaten to drive you into deep despair, when trials as large as mountains have exhausted your endurance, remember it is still Jesus who calms the storms of life.

When you build a relationship with Jesus, He enables you to become more than a conqueror and will never leave you nor forsake you. Re-member that circumstances never change Jesus, but Jesus changes circumstances.

Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”

“PEACE I LEAVE WITH YOU, MY PEACE I GIVE UNTO YOU.”

PEACE!

Pastor's Desk

Dear Family

“Peace” is a most interesting concept. To some it simply means the absence of conflict. To others it means the presence of systems which ensure order. As long as things are adding up and everything is working as it should, that would imply peace. People will sacrifice, fight and even die to ensure that peace is theirs to enjoy. I do believe that all humanity longs for peace. Who would not want to be left alone to live life quietly and comfortably without terror, crime and wars?

The biblical concept of peace is an interesting one. It may include some of the above, but it also encompasses a huge amount more. The Hebrew “shalom” includes such things as safeness, completeness, total health, satisfaction, companionship, tranquility, rest, prosperity and blessing. The Greek “eirene” adds the concept of being free from worry.

Jesus completely demonstrated this type of peace, oozing it wherever He went. He is, after all, the Prince of Peace! And He said that He would give it to us. The same peace which enabled Him to endure temptation, insult, the cross and even death, is the same peace which He offers to us today. It is not dependent on any external factor or specific conditions. It comes from Him and is valid whenever and wherever we find ourselves. Re-member the story of the violent storm when Jesus was asleep in the bottom of the boat. His disciples where absolutely terrified, and the Master just slept. He offers that to us!

Peace like that speaks of total trust in God, which we are only able to know when we understand who God actually is. As the psalmist declared in Psalm 9:10 “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

Jesus invites us to follow Him, to learn from Him, to be yoked with Him. As we surrender ourselves completely to His sway over our lives, we will begin to enjoy the gift of peace which He promises to us. We do not serve and love Him in order to get something out of Him. Rather, as we serve and love Him, He pours out His very own life into ours. And the result of that is simply, WOW!