Living the Risen Life Part 5 (2)

“Living the Risen Life” – Part 5

“Family Life in the Church”

“Inner Peace Equals Peaceful Unity”

Colossians 3:15

Illustration

Daniel

· Not all verses are read and also paraphrased

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He then sent to gather the all the officials of Babylon to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. As they gathered, they stood before the image of gold. And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image.

Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. 11 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So, they brought them before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. They were bound and were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.

· Peace because of faith outweighed fear

· I’ll let you read the rest of the story in Daniel 3:1-30 to see how it ends

Prayer

Introduction

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I want you to take a snapshot of your life at this particular season

· What is causing you fear and unrest?

· What is causing a lack of peace?

· Sometimes it feels like we will never experience peace

· It seems like the amount of fears we have is equal to the number of stars in sky

· Fear of:

o Financial

o Jobs

o Family

o Relationships

o What people think about us

o List goes on and on

· Many fears come from our situation or circumstances

· However, some fears originate from our mind – the, “What is…”

· The bottom line is that lack of peace can be debilitating

It also seems that there is no peace in our world

· And this is true, it has always been the case

Throughout the history of the world, there have been barriers that don’t allow for peace with others

· racial barriers

· religious barriers

· cultural barriers

· social barriers

· THE GAP BETWEEN WEALTH AND STATUS

· POLITICAL BARRIERS

· This lack of peace or unrest comes from sin that entered the world with Adam and Eve

Phrase to remember:

“Inner Peace Equals Peaceful Unity”

Main Text

Colossians 3:15

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Exegesis

· In VS 3:1 and 12, we learn that we have been chosen by God to be raised to new life with Christ when we have come into a saving faith in Jesus

· God now sees us as holy and beloved because of Jesus and what He’s accomplished on the cross.

· God has also called us to be set apart as His chosen people to carry out His will

· He has also called us to be His church to represent Kingdom life here on earth.

· If this is a reality in your life, it should translate to Godly living, living out your faith.

· I would imagine this is what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s faith rested on that gave them such peace in a terrifying circumstance

Let’s turn to VS 3:15

· We are called to One Body of believers, the church

· This means we are called to live in peaceful unity as a church family.

· Godly living as a church family is to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts and be thankful to God

Let’s take a deeper look at the verse to fully interpret what Paul is saying

Starts with: LET the peace of Christ rule in your heart:

Original language for better understanding

· Peace = “I-ray-nay”: To join together and to set as one again

· Hebrew shalom: A general sense of well-being and prosperity

· Rule = “Brab-yoo”: To govern and to prevail

Well, the Bible tells us that every good and perfect gift comes from the FATHER OF LIGHT

· Peace is one of these gifts

Ephesians 1:3

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places

· Just like all the virtues we are to exhibit in VS 3:12-17, we must receive the virtue of peace from Jesus first before we can exhibit peace with each other

· It doesn’t originate in us

“Inner Peace Equals Peaceful Unity”

So, what does the “PEACE OF CHRIST” mean

1st

· Jesus embodies peace – He is peace

· O.T. prophet Isaiah names Jesus the “PRINCE OF PEACE”

Ephesians 2:13-14 – Is clear on this fact

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 FOR HE HIMSELF IS OUR PEACE, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility

I want to look at 2ND Thessalonians 3:16 for the 2nd meaning of “PEACE OF CHRIST”

16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.

· Because Jesus is peace, He also gives us peace in all circumstances

John 16:32-33

Jesus says:

32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

· “HAVE” not “WILL” – Peace was established upon Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection – Since we are His disciples He gives us His peace

John 14:1 and 27

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

· How cool is that promise?

Not only that, His peace is an everlasting peace

Ezekial 37:26

26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them.

Let’s now look at what receiving the “PEACE OF CHRIST” entails?

First

· The “Peace of Christ” first means that we have been reconciled to God the Father through the forgiveness of sin.

· This is the doctrine of RECONCILIATION

· Sin has eternally separated us from God and hostile to Him

· But when we come to faith in Jesus, our sins are forgiven and nailed to the cross

· At that moment, we are now reconciled with God the Father

· This means we are in a right and peaceful relationship with Him

2ND Corinthians 5:17-19

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation – THE GOSPEL MESSAGE

Second

· It entails receiving peace from Jesus Himself through power of Holy Spirit.

· This is only possible through our union with Christ

· Stemming from this union, we are all united with each other as the church

· If we are to live united as the church, it requires Godly living explained in VS 3:8-17.

· The implication of peace among each other is that the Church is built up and grows.

Romans 14:18-19 talks about peace through the Holy Spirit and pursuing peace as a church family

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Paul finishes with we should “BE THANKFUL”

· “Be thankful”: “Be” indicates present tense

· This particular word for thankful in Greek is the only time it is used in the New Testament.

· It means “BECOME THANKFUL PEOPLE”

· This refers to the doctrine of SANCTIFICATION

· Which means growing and maturing in our faith and becoming more and more like Jesus

· In this case, it’s the ongoing process of being thankful and becoming more and more thankful

o As individuals, we should be thankful for our redemption and salvation.

o However, with the context of godly living as “ONE BODY”, We could translate “Be a thankful people (or a thankful church)”

Let’s finish by tying peace with VS 13-15

· Bearing with one another, forgiving one another, and living peacefully as a church family are all dependent on each other.

· And they are the product of agape love we pour into each other

· These 3 virtues, as well as love, must be present in the church if we are to exhibit Godly living as a church family.

· To have true unity as the Body of Christ.

Application

We began today talking about the lack of inner peace and lack of peace in the world

· So, it seems that if we are to have peace in these areas, we need to get rid of our fears

· When we live in fear it’s virtually impossible to live with inner peace and live in peace with each other

So how can we replace fear with peace?

First: Change your perspective

· It’s my opinion that the way we react to our circumstances has to do with our perspective

· Fear sets in with a worldly perspective

· Peace is accomplished with a Heavenly perspective

· As Paul tells us in VS 3:1-2, to change our perspective, we need to seek and set our mind on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father

· We must continually ask ourselves, “Do the troubles of my circumstances and the troubles of the world outweigh all we are and all we have received in Jesus?”

A 2nd thing we can do is put others before ourselves

· When we live in fear the result is that our attention is on ourselves

· But if we get out of ourselves and focus our attention on others, the fear subsides

· Not only do we receive inner peace, but we are also living in peace with each other

“Inner Peace Equals Peaceful Unity”

3rd - Be a peacemaker in the church

· When hostility arises between each other, be the voice of reason

Matthew 5:9

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Last, Having faith and leaning on Christ’s promise of peace will help us get rid of fear

· PEACE REQUIRES FAITH

· FAITH COMES FROM HEARING AND BELIEVING GOSPEL – To know and internalize Gospel message

· FAITH REQUIRES US TO KNOW GOD’S WORD – How can you have faith in something you don’t even know about

· Why I give you supporting Scripture in your bulletin – Don’t believe me, research it for yourself to see it this is true

When fear engulfs you engage in these practices

Also, when fear engulfs you grab you Bible and read Philippians 4:4-7

Philippians 4:4-7

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Ask yourself, “What fears do I have in my life that takes away my peace?

World is not peaceful because of sin – Jesus knows this, He’s not taken by surprise

Again from John: I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”