Peace – A Chain Blog

August 25th, 2008 by J.R. Miller Leave a reply »

I want to add my link in the chain by picking up on something Alan said in his opening post.

As mentioned earlier, several passages of Scripture indicate that peace primarily comes through our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Peace is a product of the Spirit’s work in a person’s life. However, we are also exhorted to seek and strive for peace. Thus, there is a work that must be done in order to maintain the peace that we have with one another through the Holy Spirit.

Peace then is given to us by the Spirit of Promise and consequently, as Alan pointed out, we must work and participate in keeping the Peace of God. Righteousness is one quality of peace that we must work to maintain.

Hebrews 9:9-14 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

We learn from this revelation a valuable lesson about the pursuit of peace.

First, peace will come only when we embrace the discipline of our heavenly Father. When we respond to His correction, we will experience the true peace that flows from right living (sanctification).
Then, as we move along the path of faith, we must also strengthen those who are weak and help them embrace the righteousness of God. When a brother or sister stumbles, we must pick them up and show them the path of righteousness. Only then will they know the healing touch of peace.
Finally, Alan mentioned, in his opening post, the failure of many leaders to be humble and how this leads to a lack of peace in the church. While there are many factors that create bad leaders, I think one of the primary reasons leaders fail to bring peace is because the church has chosen for Herself men and women who emulate the world instead of Christ. We celebrate pride in our pastors and call it leadership. Instead, we must learn to recognize, pursue, and celebrate leaders who demonstrate humility and the righteousness of Christ our Lord.
For every follower of Jesus, the pursuit of peace cannot be accomplished without the pursuit of holiness.
Links in the chain
  1. The Assembling of The Church
  2. More Than Cake (my post)
  3. For Peace Sake
  4. The Restoration of Peace in the Eschatological Work of Jesus Christ
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PS
You are free to use my “one link” graphic on your post to help make a visual connection to all the other Chain Blog posts.  Just respect the Creative Commons License.
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4 comments

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  1. Alan Knox says:
    August 25, 2008 at 3:13 pm

    Joe,

    Excellent points! If I understand you correctly, discipline, discipleship, and following mature believers all help us maintain peace. I agree completely.

    -Alan

    Reply
  2. Ur Man CD says:
    September 2, 2008 at 4:18 pm

    Hey JR (by the way, why did you hate Cliff Barnes so much? Do you feel responsible for his demise into alcoholism?)

    Thanks for this challenging entry reminding us of the link between holiness and peace which I’m also concerned seems to be lacking when we talk about peace.

    Indeed so concerned am I to understand that the peace the world offers is different to the one that Jesus extends that I’ve taken up the challenge of following you and Alan in this chain blog on peace and have written an article called For Peace Sake which you can see by clicking on the blog link.

    Thanks again JR.

    da man cd

    Reply
  3. J. R. Miller says:
    September 2, 2008 at 4:51 pm

    Hey CD, you have me at a disadvantage, who is Cliff Barnes?

    Reply
  4. Lionel Woods says:
    September 6, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    Joe,

    Ah peace in the fellowship will stop all church splits and relational breakdown. Blessed are the peace makers one famous theologian once said.

    By the way I have a post up. Check it out. Thanks for allowing me to join the discussion

    http://blackandreformedministries.com/2008/09/06/a-restoration-of-peace-in-the-eschatological-work-of-jesus-christ/

    Reply

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