THE Fruit of the Spirit (3) Peace
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November 08, 2009 |
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 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).
True children of God must pursue peace with all men.
Not only must we find peace with those who love us, but also with those who unjustly hate us or give us a hard time. Only then can we enjoy the spiritual authority as true children of God and gain nobility in heaven. This is why Hebrews 12:14 says, "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord."
What would happen to our families or our workplaces if we couldn't embrace or understand others, and instead dogmatically insisted on our own thoughts? Peace will be broken, trials and tests will follow, the way of blessing will be blocked, and thus much difficulty will arise. How then, can we avoid confrontation with others and bear the fruit of peace?
First, we must be at peace with God.
The most important thing when seeking peace with God is the absence of the barrier of sin. If you act within the truth, you have confidence because you are at peace with God. Of course, in order to avoid setting up any barriers of sin and being at perfect peace with the Lord, we must cast away all sin and become sanctified. But even if we are not perfect yet, we can still have peace with God as long as we diligently practice truth within our own measure of faith.
Even when making peace with men, we must do so within the truth, maintaining our peace with God. We must not break peace with God in order to have peace with men. For example, if we were to bow down before idols or violate the Sabbath in order to have peace with unbelieving family members, what would happen? Although it may seem like we have peace for the moment, in spirit, we have broken our peace with God with a great wall of sin, inviting upon ourselves trials and tribulations.
To have true peace among men, we must first please God (Proverbs 16:7). As long as we continuously and earnestly seek peace within the truth, even if others try to break our peace with evil, God will work for us.
Second, we must be at peace with ourselves.
To be at peace with ourselves, we must also cast out evil and become sanctified. If we have evil remaining within us, hatred, anger, envy, greed, and such untruths come out from our hearts according to the situation. Furthermore, if the heart of truth and heart of untruth have similar strengths within us, the struggle between them will cause us great trouble and adversity.
At these times, if we have firm determination and pray fervently to continually choose the truth, we will finally be able to have peace in our hearts. But while some say they are pursuing peace with God and acting in the truth, because of their own frameworks and self-righteousness, there is no peace in their heart.
For example, there are some people who have no peace because they are bound by the frameworks of the law. Just like Job did before he faced his trials, such people pray hard and try to live by the Word, but they don't do it for their love for God. Instead, they do it with an anxious heart, out of the fear of possible punishment that may come if they do not practice the truth.
And thus, if they ever happen to fail to act within the truth, they easily become nervous, immobilized, and unable to continue in their walk of faith. In this case, rather than focusing merely on the actions and deeds of the truth themselves, they should try to have a heartfelt love for God. They can enjoy true peace to the extent that they love God from the depths of their hearts and come to truly understand His love.
There are also people who do not have peace within themselves because of their own negative thoughts. While these people may try to diligently act within the truth, if they do not get the satisfactory results they expect, they discourage themselves and suffer from other self-defeating behaviors. But in cases such as these, we must have faith in God that He will raise us up when we are completely humbled and believe that He will love and perfect us if we strive to change ourselves. And if instead of worrying about gaining our own approval, we continue to act according to the truth, God will provide us with spiritual confidence.
Third, we must be at peace with everybody.
In order to have peace, we must not be rude, or flaunt and boast about ourselves. We must humble ourselves and lift others up from the center of our hearts. We should have a heart that is not biased but willing to accept differences within the truth. Therefore, instead of tailoring everything to our own beliefs, we should try to see it from the viewpoint of others and tailor it to theirs. Even though our opinion may be correct or better, we should try to follow others' opinions unless they are of untruth.
To accomplish such peace, we have to sacrifice ourselves for others, even to the point of sacrificing our lives. Next, to have peace with everybody, we must not insist on our self-righteousness and frameworks. Each person has a different personality because we were all raised in different environments. Each of us has received a different form of education and has a different measure of faith. Each has a different standard of judging what is considered right or wrong, and good or bad. So, if each of us insists on our own opinions and desires, we cannot have peace.
Peace can only be established when we think from the viewpoint of others and serve each other.
Those who have peace with God and themselves don't break peace with anyone else. Because they have thrown away their own greed, pride, and their frameworks and self-righteousness, they do not experience discomfort or conflict with anyone. They continue to serve and sacrifice, even when an evil person may try to break peace. I hope you will quickly have the heart of truth, self-sacrifice, and service to others in all matters and thus bear the perfect fruit of peace.
The above message is a summary of the sermon preached during the Sunday evening service on October 25, 2009. If you would like to read this sermon in greater detail, please visit our website (www. manmin. org) and click on "Sermon".
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