Commissioned Shoes

Ephesians 2:14-16

Verse 16  …and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility.

    Having discussed the peace of the world let’s spend some time focusing on the peace of Christ.  We will continue on with the concept of Jesus’ peace being uniting for the people He has called to be in His army.  As we said yesterday, peace isn’t something one generally associates with an army, but the peace of Christ is counter cultural.

    Work as we may to all get along we can’t do it because we have too many different thoughts which keep us from agreeing.  While some of those things aren’t life altering there are things we must stand our ground on even if it means losing family and friends over it.  The key to those things which cause us to take such a firm stance must be the things Christ took a firm stance on.

    We can’t make up our own mind of what is right and wrong, we will only find peace amongst God’s army when we are standing firm for the same things He is.  There are many examples in our world today where people say they are in God’s army but they aren’t wearing His peace but the world’s peace.  They are more concerned with keeping peace with the world than they are about keeping the truth, righteousness and peace of the Lord.

    The truth is the peace of Jesus is found in His life of righteousness and His death for our sins.  It is His death and resurrection which were done to bring unity and peace to the army of God.  We know Christ died with just as much purpose as He lived and that should mean something to us and how we live out His name in our world.

    Jesus said the world would know us as His followers because of our love for each other (John 13:35).  It is this love which bind us together in Him.  When we truly love Him and His commands, we can’t help but love each other too.  We will have peace in that love because we will know we are on a joint mission to bring Him glory.  We will also know we are in the battle together.  It is in knowing we are in the battle together with Christ as our commander which helps us work together in the battle instead of battling against each other.

Making It Personal

    How do you find unity with other Christians?  Where do you struggle to get along with other believers?  What is behind the struggle?

Making It Personal Kids

    Do you ever struggle to get along with other kids?  What makes it hard to get along with them?  How should you get along with others who love Jesus?

Closing Prayer

    Father, thank You for this reminder we are to find peace in our relationship with other Christians because they have found their peace in You.  Help us always look to You for our peace.  In Jesus’ name, amen.