Peace That Binds
You’ve probably heard of the get-along-shirt. An extra-large t-shirt that siblings are made to wear together when they refuse to get along. They must keep the shirt on all day until they learn to play nice. Tonight, we are going to do a couple of experiments to see how well we can get along with each other.
Group Ring: put as many people as you can around a hula hoop each holding onto the hoop with only one finger. Their finger must remain in contact with the hoop at all times. If any member of the team loses contact with the hoop they must start again. The goal is to move as a group and pick up various objects from around the room, navigate past barriers, and reach the back of the room without losing any members of the team.
Boxing Match: have the team stand in a box. All of their feet must remain flat against the bottom of the box at all times. Anytime a team member’s foot lifts, they must begin again. The goal is for each team member to do several simple tasks without knocking anyone out of the box or causing them to lift their feet.
What are some things that you learned from this experience? The importance of communication, teamwork, patience, focusing on the needs of others, how to fail and try again…
As we continue our Stronger series in Ephesians, we look tonight at Paul’s instructions to the church about living in peace.
1 Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, 3 diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us. (Ephesians 4:1-3)
Three Things
Paul urges us to remember our call, to be faithful to our call, and to work towards fulfilling that call. By doing these we can be stronger in heart, mind, body, and soul. To help us achieve these goals, he gives us three things to do.
Humility
Humility is something that often seems rare in our culture. We live in times when it appears as if everyone is trying to be noticed, everyone wants to be discovered, everyone wants to get their 10 minutes of fame. But there are some individuals who simply go about their lives in quiet humility, not concerned about being noticed or recognized for the things that they are doing.
I’m not talking about introverts who prefer to go unnoticed because they don’t like the attention. I’m talking about those who do good work, good deeds, always helping others, always thinking about the needs of others, and never trying to get their name in the paper or even to promote their church.
This is rare enough that I have run into people who have given up on going to church because of the hypocrisy that they see among church leaders. I have had people tell me that they cannot trust pastors because they are always doing things with a hidden agenda to get more people in their church and get more money in their offering plates.
Granted, some of that is from a cynical heart that is looking for the negatives, but I also know pastors who are always trying to work an angle so that they or their church gets the recognition. They refuse to do some good things because they don’t see how that can benefit their church. Paul wants us to have humble hearts. Hearts that think about the needs of others first.
Gentleness
This is another area where we struggle in our culture. The attitude is that if we don’t speak up for our cause or our wants that nobody will care about us. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. So, we push our agendas out forcefully to the point that we actually turn others away. Our friends, family, and co-workers just get weary of hearing us spout off our opinions time and time again.
We also live in a culture that believes that violence is the best way to deal with a problem. If a country is doing something that we don’t like, fire off some missiles at them. If the service was bad, yell at the employee. If a neighbor is treating you unfairly, just deck them. The government won’t listen, riot. Somebody bullies you, stab them with a knife or worse. Our culture has decided that violence is only unacceptable when we are impacted by it.
Paul understood that the only way to be effective in our calling by God, was that we practice being gentle in our nature, in the way we speak, and in the actions we take.
Patience
Personally, I struggle in this area. I have for most of my life. I would love to be more patient, I just want it to happen right now. I don’t like waiting to learn how to be patient. I don’t like waiting. I don’t like repeating myself. I don’t like repeating myself. Sorry, I’m just practicing my patience.
Paul was instructing us to have a patient lifestyle. This is the same Paul that had no problem walking into the middle of a Greek arena and telling the renowned philosophers of their time that they were ignorant because they worship 12 useless gods. Not only that, they also had a temple for the unknown god just in case none of their gods were good enough for the task at hand.
Yet Paul also knew how to be patient. He spent years growing churches and teaching others about Jesus. He spent years in prison waiting for his final execution because he told people about Jesus. Paul understood that patience would be required for all of us if were are to following God’s plan for our lives as individuals and as a church.
Always Accept
The second thing that Paul wants us to do is be willing to accept everyone in love. This is an area that the church has failed to do over and over through our history. Sadly, the church had a very bloody and segregated past. Even more modern heroes of the Christian faith have missed that God wants us to be accepting of others. God never tells us to accept the sins of others. God only asks us to accept them.
Even today many churches prefer to put up a list of thou shalt nots and tell people not to attend their church if they are going to live like that. Yet the church is made up of people that are imperfect, broken, sinners that needed God’s forgiveness. Jesus accepted us while we were still sinners, but for some reason many Christians just cannot work up the courage to do the same.
At Elevate Church, we don't care how you're dressed, how many tattoos you have, or what candidate you voted for. We don’t condemn you because of your past. God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world (John 3:17). Only God can and should condemn others. We should be accepting.
We're a church full of broken, imperfect people with every kind of story imaginable. We will accept you where you are right now, and we will pray and help you as we all move closer to God each and every day.
Due Diligence
When we focus on these things: humility, gentleness, patience, and acceptance, we will have done our due diligence toward being a people of peace. We will enjoy a peace that binds us together as a family, as brothers and sisters, regardless of our past, regardless of our color, regardless of our politics, regardless of our economic status, regardless, regardless, regardless. Nothing will be able to interfere with our peace.
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