Tag Archives: peace

You Are The Message!

Bible Study, , , ,

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 (The Message).

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?

In The Eye Of The Storm

Christian Life, , ,

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, 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.

Jesus Came…

Christian Life, , , ,

JESUS CAME…

“That same day two of them were walking to the village Emmaus, about seven miles out of Jerusalem. They were deep in conversation, going over all these things that had happened. In the middle of their talk and questions Jesus came up and walked along with them. But they were not able to recognise who He was.

“He asked, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?’

“They just stood there, long faced like they had lost their best friend. Then one of them, his name was Cleopas, said, ‘Are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard what’s happened during the last few days?'” Luke 24:13-19 (The Message).

Jesus must have enjoyed His little game with these disciples. They were not part of the Twelve, but they were disciples, nevertheless, people who were committed to this Rabbi and learning to walk in His yoke. The events of the past few days had hit them as hard as they had hit the remaining eleven disciples.

They were going over and over the tragedy they had witnessed, just like we do, in a sort-of cathartic way. Sharing their pain was a way of trying to come to terms with it. When a stranger came alongside them, they were so engrossed in their grief and frustration that they took little notice of Him.

Luke continues the “mystery” of the missing Jesus. The women had not seen Him. They had evidence that something unusual had happened but that was all. Peter had not seen Him. His visit to the tomb turned up nothing. Now Jesus joins this grieving pair and they are too preoccupied to notice who was walking with them.

Imagine their surprise when their unknown companion had no idea what they are talking about! Jesus egged them on, pretending to be ignorant of the dramatic events they were recounting. He must have chuckled to Himself, anticipating the moment when He would make Himself known to them. It was also a beautiful moment, a moment of opportunity – to share with them in the clearest way possible, the meaning of the story in which they were fully involved.

They were oblivious to the obvious clues surrounding this stranger because of their emotional state. They believed that their beloved Master was dead. Because of that, they were full of sorrow and despair. This is how the human psyche works. Our emotions are the symptom of what we believe. If the interpretation of our experiences is faulty, we will feel the emotional pain of that false belief.

Most often times we see ourselves as the victims in difficult circumstances. Because of our inborn sense of worthlessness aggravated and confirmed by the way we are often mistreated by family or peers, we interpret our experiences as confirmation of who we think we are.

The minds of these disciples blotted out the possibility of Jesus being alive. Instead they believed their false idea that He was dead and with Him all their hopes. All they could do was to come to terms with their grief and bitter disappointment.

But Jesus was about to change that! Only an encounter with Him can expose and change our faulty interpretations and replace our emotional pain with peace. It takes an honest admission that we are wrong to bring about this radical and permanent release from pain.