Peace Lesson 4: The How

The How?

Welcome to the Anchor! We are back to talk about Peace.

I want to quickly give you guys a recap of all we have looked at so far.

Can anyone tell me what the Hebrew word for peace is? Shalom

Peace - Not just the absence of conflict, but the presence of positive relationship.

I took a Biblical peacemaking class a year ago, and this definition as well as the causes of conflict I learned from that.

Misunderstandings

Differences

Limited Resources

Sin

Last week we asked the WHY question?

Does anyone by chance remember why we should choose to have peace?

This is what we were created for, to reflect God in how we treat the people in our lives.

So how do we do it? We’ve talked so much about responses, and why, let’s move to the how.

We are going to take a few weeks of looking at this, so get comfortable, let’s explore this together.

How can we live at peace with others in our lives?

As I mentioned last week, when we have big questions we need to ask our big God what He thinks! Let’s start by going to Ephesians 4.

We are going to be in Ephesians 4:1-3. But before we begin we need to ask another question: What’s the context?

Author: Paul

Written to: the Church in Ephesus

Summary of book: the mystery of the good news revealed and what to do about it in our lives. Paul usually breaks his letters in to two sections (explaining the good news / what to do about it) In a way it’s like a written sermon.

Sketch out letter of Ephesians on the white board.

So we are starting at the beginning of the second half of the letter, right here.

Has anyone read through this one before? That’s okay.

Ephesians 4:1–3 ESV

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Would someone like to read it?

We are going to break this verse down, section by section.

Let’s start at the beginning, I love this quote, “What is the therefore there for.”

As you can remember Paul is shifting to the what do we do about it section of the book, so he is saying, in essence, because of what was said before, and we can look back a few verses to see. Because of Jesus and His power, I Paul, who is a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy...

Here is a word we don’t use a lot today URGE, another word to describe this is EXHORT.

“I urge you to go to the Kansas City Chiefs game.”

“I urge you to not eat all of the beanboozled jelly beans.”

The dictionary on my Bible software describes urge as -

παρακαλέω (parakaleō): vb.; ≡ DBLHebr 5714; Str 3870; TDNT 5.773—1. LN 33.168 ask for earnestly, beg, plead (Ac 28:20), for another interp, see below; 2. LN 33.315 invite (Lk 8:41); 3. LN 33.310 call together to (Ac 28:20), for another interp, see above; 4. LN 25.150 encourage, console, urge (Eph 6:22)

James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

Think like I encourage you strongly, sometimes so strongly like I am begging you or pleading with you. Think strong encouragement.

What does Paul urge us to from this passage?

To walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Last week we looked at this, we are called to be image bearers of God, reflecting Him.

Think like we are putting together the puzzle pieces, Paul is urging us walk in live as we were created and called to live: being like God. So what exactly does this entail:

humility

gentleness

patience

bearing with one another in love

eagerness to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Why does Paul list these things here? We see at the end how this builds: to maintain unity / the bond of peace.

Seeking peace with others starts with our attitude.

Paul gives us three key characteristics for us to live in while seeking peace. Each of these characteristics reflect God’s attitude in peacemaking. They begin the HOW journey for us:

1. Humility

Humility, this is a powerful word. Would anyone want to take a shot at what this word means? Can you give an example of humility?

Not thinking of yourself at all! Acting for the good of others

Philippians 2:3 ESV

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

That sounds really difficult to do if someone you know has hurt you badly.

2. Gentleness

Gentleness, another powerful word. Anyone want to take a shot at this one? An example?

I think this verse shows us a glimpse of the gentleness Paul is talking about in 1 Thessalonians 2:7

1 Thessalonians 2:7 ESV

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.

What tone of voice are you using? How is your body language?

When people have hurt me in the past it has been hard to show gentleness, it would be way easier to give in to frustration, anger, or even denial.

3. Patience

Finally we have patience, an attitude of patience. What’s a time in your life where you had to show patience?

For me it was waiting to get Disney Infinity, a toys to life video game.

Waiting calmly and gracefully.

It might be pretty hard to be patient with someone if they have hurt you badly.

How can I have this attitude? What do I do?

This seems really challenging right? How do we even begin to do this?

Let’s start with what to do with hurt. When we are hurt what should we do? You don’t have to answer, but think about this for a moment. What should we do?

Hebrews 4:15–16 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

When you see this phrase that says high priest, it’s talking about Jesus.

Draw out on board a person giving their hurt to Jesus. Jesus understands pain, and we can go to him in times of need, for healing and comfort.

Jesus is healer. Let me give you two verses and then we will finish up:

1 Peter 5:6–7 ESV

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Give him your anxieties, tell him your hurt.

You can do this by talking to him in prayer. It would be like us talking right now, you don’t need any fancy words, just be yourself and talk to him.

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Come to Jesus, give Him your hurt, He will help you show humility, gentleness, and patience toward others.

The beginning of all true peace making between people starts with God, displayed and aided through Jesus.

Here are our main points today:

When we look at how we can be at peace with others, we start with our attitude.

God calls us to have an attitude of humility, gentleness, and patience, even towards people who have hurt us.

When we are hurt, we can take it to Jesus, He can and will heal our hearts, helping us with our attitude towards others.

Questions:

How is your attitude when you get hurt by others?

Is it easy for someone to have an attitude of humility, gentleness, and patience?

How does Jesus help people with hurt? What does that mean for me?