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Jesus commanded us to be at peace. Not to agree. Not to think the same thing. Not to be cookie cutter Christians. Diverse, different, but joined in Him. In HIM we are the righteousness of God. In order to be at peace, we need to focus on how He was and be like that.
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Jesus commanded us to be at peace. Not to agree. Not to think the same thing. Not to be cookie cutter Christians. Diverse, different, but joined in Him. In HIM we are the righteousness of God. In order to be at peace, we need to focus on how He was and be like that.
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Welcome to Fear No Fear, a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear and embrace faith in God. We should live in peace with one another, supporting and encouraging each other. We should strive to embody the characteristics of leaders in the church, such as being above reproach and hospitable. We are called to make disciples and walk in peace, love, and unity. We should not let fear dominate us, but instead rely on Jesus and fill our hearts with His peace. God loves us unconditionally and we should embrace His love. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of His word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to His perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org 1 Thessalonians 5.12-14 But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor amongst you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to respect and honor them in love for their work's sake. Be at peace amongst yourselves. We exhort you, brothers, admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, and be patient towards all. This is one of those scriptures that doesn't look like a command, much less like a command not to fear, but it is. This is foundational stuff. It is at the core of who we are as a church body, the entire thing, not a particular denomination or group, and who we are as believers. This is something that sets us apart and makes us different from the world around us. This is one of the things that draws people to us, wondering what it is that we have a hold of, and if they can get it. There is witnessing by speaking to people, but there is a greater witness that should go along with that, and it is the way in which we live. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you. You also love one another. By this, everyone will know that you were my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13, 34-35 If we love one another, we will not be fighting. We will not be full of strife. That doesn't mean that we will always get along. People are allowed to disagree. People are allowed to debate and argue. There is a right way to do it, though. There is a way to enjoy open, honest, attentive conversation, active listening, managing conflict, emoting, not feeling. These are the ways that people have to learn to get along in order to have productive discussions. These are principles that are so true, the world knows it. There are thousands upon thousands of business world seminars, teachings, instructions, and programs that teach these skills. They do it because any given company needs to be able to communicate healthily and within diverse opinions in order to maintain creativity, productivity, and innovation. You find it in education. You find it in support groups. You find it in government organizations. You find it in unions. You find it all over the place. If it is so much a part of the human experience in the flesh, why do we as a church body assume that we are exempt? Yes, we are new creations. 2 Corinthians 5.17. We are not subject to the curse. We are not ruled by the flesh. But you know what? The tongue is the hardest part of our flesh to tame. For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature is tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it, we bless our God and Father, and with it, we curse men who were made in the image of God. Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. James 3.7-10. Amen. They shouldn't be so. We should be able to get along, communicate, and disagree without offense. Yet this flesh of ours is full of habit, full of feeling, and all of it is selfish. We need to watch it. We need to keep it on a leash. We need to pay attention to what we say and how we say it. This is something we cannot do in our own strength, but something that we need the Holy Spirit to accomplish. This is why we have a whole bunch of fruit available as tools and geared toward our flesh, Galatians 5.22-26. We need to be peaceful toward each other. Remember that in our own individual walk with Yahweh God Almighty, we are to be rejoicing. This should be our natural state. That is rejoicing in the Lord, being thankful in all circumstances, not thankful for all circumstances. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice, Philippians 4.4. Paul goes on to talk about our gentleness being made known to all men, to operate with prayer and thanksgiving, verses 5-6. Does that sound like a little strife-filled person? An angry person? A fearful person? No. Verse 7 says, And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. If we're abiding in Jesus, John 15, if we are operating this way and gaining the benefits of the peace of God, why would we then ignore that in order to fight with each other? Yet the church, as a global whole, does that every single day. In 1 Timothy 3, 1-7 and Titus 1, verses 6-9, Paul lists the requirements for being an elder or a leader in the church. This is for any elder, any pastor, any leader, any overseer. All those terms are interchangeable. So these are characteristics that should be looked for for those things, for those positions. Now remember that our leaders are there not just to shepherd us, but to be an example of how we should be. That means these are goals. These are ways that we should seek to walk. Now we'll all be at different stages of our sanctification journey. So will our leaders. But the thing is that we will not intentionally try to go against this. We'll be cultivating these characteristics, working on them in our lives, by renewing our minds in the Word about the subjects. Now you're ready? Above reproach. No hidden behavior that people could point to and smear the church or the faith or to mock the Lord. One spouse of the opposite sex. Remember, we were created male and female, then called to join man to woman alone in covenantal relationship before and with God. If we're skipping from spouse to spouse to spouse, are we really modeling faithfulness? If we're not man, woman, Jesus in the center, are we modeling the Trinity? Sober-minded and disciplined. Not a drunk, not a glutton, not an addict. Able to control their appetites and pricing freedom from enslavement to the bondage of those appetites. Self-controlled. Sensible, prudent, with good judgment and discernment. Not running after every feeling that crops up, but emoting with discipline. Informed and guided by the Spirit, not the flesh. Now remember, this is a list of characteristics we are seeking to emulate and cultivate. Not doing these things does not automatically mean you're under judgment. The Holy Spirit will guide you. This is what we're trying to reach. This is how Jesus was, so this is how we should be. Hospitable. Open to meeting new people. Caring for them. Seeking to improve their lives in every reasonable way that they possibly can. Welcoming, not judging. Respectable. This is someone able to function without offense. They're not walking on eggshells, but they're not trotting on toes either. Graceful, not abrasive. Able to teach or instruct. This means that they know the material, not just having the ability, learned or natural, to pass the information on in a way that engages the attention of others. Someone able to spot errors and correct them with proper doctrine without being harmful to the person themselves. Not violent. This is not someone who's prone to temper tantrums. They can discuss without shouting. They don't like strife. They don't like fighting. This is not their strength. They're not a hypocrite. They walk this way in their private lives as well as their public lives. They're not one way on Sunday and a different person on Monday at home. Gentle. This is not a wimp. They're able to be tough when needed. They are capable of holy anger. They are full of love, but they're not shying away from correction. They don't spit vitriol, but nurture virtue. They're kind. Not quarrelsome. So not a fight picker. Not a poker of people's hot spots. They don't put themselves above others, but they serve with a smile, seeking conciliation, not being right. Not a lover of money. They aren't greedy. Money isn't everything. They're not afraid of it, but they don't seek it. They seek being blessed only so they can abundantly bless others. They don't hoard or hang on to things. They trust the Lord to meet their needs. A good manager with obedient children. So they're a good manager of their own home as well as their ministry. They guide their household and their business the same way, using the principles of the Word and passing them on to others. Their children aren't perfect, but they aren't disrespectful or running rampant on a regular basis. They're not being held to another standard. They're rather taught to be like their parents, who are seeking to be like this list. Their relationships with spouse and children are admirable, and others seek to walk in the same overall harmony. Well thought of by outsiders. As they operate in the world, people are happy to see them. Servers, employees, community leaders, all are happy to see them arrive in a room. No one is avoiding them as they walk down the street. No one is sorry that they came in. They are leaving smiles behind them wherever they go. They're not a doormat, but building other people up, even as things are being handled or processed. A lover of good. Attracted to the idea of doing good. Everything good comes from the Lord. They revel in discovering it and spreading it. They want to walk in love and see love spread around them. Not seeing with rose-colored glasses, but spreading love and avoiding things that revel in their trashiness. Upright. They seek justice for those around them, not social justice, equal justice. They don't let injustice slink by, but they don't favor one group over another. They have a real desire for fair treatment across the board. Holy. Seeking the face of the Lord in all things. Seeking to bring the Lord into all aspects of life. Devoted to following the Lord. A lover of the Word. Prayerful. Meditative. A faster. A worshiper. And works on forging a deep and personal relationship with the Triune Godhead. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three of them are distinct personalities. You can have a relationship with all three of them. Now, do you see why this list is so important? This is how we are all supposed to be. This is how a Christian is supposed to walk, because this is how Jesus walked. This is the way He lived. Read through the Gospels with this list beside you. See how these characteristics come up again and again and again. Jesus never compromised. He was strong in His convictions. He was kind, gentle, instructive, correcting, firm, open, welcoming. He didn't cause controversy. He was controversy. People heard about Him all over Israel and Judea. He was famous. Whether they agreed with Him or not, they knew who He was and the basics of what He was teaching. This is a picture of how we're supposed to be, personally and as a global church body. We are the salt in the wound that is in this world, but we're to be a balm, not a bitterness. We are to be light. We are to be transforming by our mere presence because of who is living inside us. We should be welcomed by our manner, even as we often will be rejected because of our devotion to Jesus. But no one listens to a jerk. Everyone listens to the kind-hearted. Hurt people hurt other people. Loved people love other people. Well, God loves us more than anything else can. Shouldn't we be loving others the way Jesus did? We're called to, Matthew 25, 37-40. This isn't always popular, only because we're not working like He has commanded us to. We're supposed to be making disciples of the rest of the world. Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28, 18-20. Tell me, can we make disciples if we are not teachers? Can we walk beside them in the months and years that true discipleship takes? We aren't supposed to be knock on doors, share Jesus, say a prayer, hand them a tract, a Bible, and guide them to the local church. We're to make disciples. That's a process. We need to teach, preach, guide, correct, lead, and listen. It's relational, just like our relationship with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, and with the Father. As we are nurtured, we are to nurture others. We cannot do that in strife. We must walk in peace to accomplish that, not full of fear, but full of the knowledge that we are the righteousness of Christ in Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5-21. Not just us ourselves, but each and every member of the body of Christ. Not just the older believers, but also the newest of new converts to the faith. We are to walk in peace with each other, to develop it, to nurture it, to encourage each other, to take care of the widows and orphans, to be firm in our roles as males and females, with healthy respect and generous love toward one another. We are brothers and sisters in Jesus. But we are not dysfunctional. Don't swallow the lies of the world that dysfunctional is normal and cool. We are fully functional, with all joy and peace, saturated with faith, and each and every one of us leaning and looking to Jesus, listening to the Holy Spirit, and telling Him, speak through our mouths and think through our minds. Renewed in the Word as we grow together, being sanctified in the truth. The Lord's Word is the truth. John 17-17. We put on the armor of God, not to combat each other, but to link arms and stand against the attacks of the enemy. We are strong, and together we are growing stronger, because Jesus is our strength. We are not an island. We are not isolated. We are not distant. We are to know one another. We are to support one another. Whether we agree or not, we are to love one another, and by that love be known. We should be the ones getting along. We should be the ones who love, not in a crass way, not in a hollow way, not in a just-in-church way, but daily, always, in every action, word, and thought. Because of Him, you were in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1.30. We are not doing the work. We are the work, each and every one of us. Let's link arms and walk in peace, practicing it each and every day, together loving and being loved, being at peace and patient to all, all those around us and all those in the world. Patient, not patsies, patient, not angry, patient and loving. We are the light in this world. It is high time to shine. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Romans 8, 5-8. What are we dominated by? Life and peace, or by the flesh and fear? Fear isn't always scared. Fear is sometimes lack of looking at Jesus. Are we walking on the waves of this world, or are we getting our pants wet? This world cannot touch us. Our past experiences cannot touch us. They are just stuff that happened, shadows on the wall. They cannot touch us, and we cannot touch them. Why do we sometimes try? Now, faith pleases the Lord. If we are in the flesh, we are in fear, and we are not walking in faith. We are not living by faith. We are living by a memory of an experience that we have passed. We do that because we can conquer our mind, but not our heart. Jesus needs to deal with our heart. Our heart has memory cells, untouched by consciousness, but flowing toward our consciousness, a reset button that keeps tuning to what we were, how we walked. This is what will be in our heart, and what our heart will be rebooting our mind to. What is in the heart is what you speak, Matthew 12, 34. As your heart thinks, so you are, Proverbs 23, 7. The more we rely on Jesus and get the Word into us with the intention to submit to what we read and meditate on what the Word says we can have and be, the more that will reside in our heart. Jesus can wash your heart clean. The Holy Spirit can help you repopulate those cells with Him, with the Word, with the heart of the Father, with the will of the Father, saying goodbye to trauma, saying goodbye to those triggering memories that make you quiver and quail, saying hello to His peace, His joy. Practice it. Walk in it. Let trouble stay outside, no matter what passes by your house. It doesn't have to touch you. You don't have to walk in it. You can stay in the flow of peace if you choose to practice it. Pick up what is already in your spirit, Galatians 5, 22. If you tend it, it will produce more fruit than you can contain. Start today and pick up peace. As we close, remember that you have birth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love and no end to the things about you that He loves each and every day. Pick one. Remember, the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us that God has sent His only-born Son into the world that we might live through Him. And this is love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin, and it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because He first loved us. He just loves us. He can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.
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