This morning is a Church Family Communion service. When we introduced this way of having communion about five years ago we had quite a few conversations about what was important to include whilst we were all together and at what point the young people would go to their groups. We decided that it was important that we had a confession and prayer assuring us of God’s forgiveness and “The Peace” as part of the lead in to sharing the bread and wine around the table. These are important because they recognise the importance of our reconciliation with God, our peace with God, and our reconciliation with each other, our peace with each other, to our ongoing walk with Jesus. Our commitment to our values of Loving God and Loving Each Other, and our commitment to peace and reconciliation as an expression of that love shapes the way we worship and pray together.
Over the last few weeks we have been exploring this short passage from Paul’s letter to the Christians living in Colossae, reflecting on how it can shape our lives together, our love for each other. This week we are focussing on v 15, and actually only the first bit of v15, as Peter is going to helping us explore thankfulness next week. So our text for this morning is:
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.”
The focus of this instruction is that we are members of one body that have been called to peace. Elsewhere Paul talks at length about the metaphor of the people of God being like a body. In his first letter to the Christians in Corinth he conjures up the ridiculous image of the foot complaining that because it’s not a hand that it’s not part of the body and the ear deciding to strike out on its own because it’s not an eye. No, he says – you are one body, Jesus’ body, you don’t have any choice about that – so learn how to work to together, how to encourage each other, how to build each other up, how to celebrate each other’s gifts and contributions, how to be at peace with each other.
This is why we have “The Peace” in our services. I know that some of us find it a bit uncomfortable, and part of it genuinely being an expression of peace is for us to be sensitive to each other’s personal space boundaries and preferences for physical contact or not, but we persist with it because it is an important sign of our commitment to peace. Of course, if that is all we do to work on our peace then it is not enough. It’s no good us having “The peace” and then harbouring bitterness, anger, or resentment in our hearts against the person we’ve just shaken hands with or waved across the room at. There’s no point saying, “peace be with you.” to someone and then gossiping about someone or criticising them behind their backs at coffee time, or speaking thoughtlessly or unkindly to them during the week.
So, how are we to make the peace between us real? How are we to put aside the things that get in the way of peace and to build up the things that encourage peace and mutual love and support?
I’d like to suggest that “Peace between flows from Peace within”. “Peace between flows from Peace within.”
Or, as Paul puts it, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. If we are to have true peace with others then we have to have peace within, our hearts need to be ruled by peace.
What does it look like to have a heart ruled by peace? Perhaps it might help to think about the opposite. What does a heart that isn’t ruled by peace look like? We’ve already touched on a few things. If a heart is full of bitterness, anger, or resentment then it isn’t being ruled by peace. It seems to me that there are other things that can disturb our hearts, make them unpeaceful places. Anxiety and fear are not characteristics of a heart ruled by peace. These might have all kinds of sources – from traumas in the past, to feeling overwhelmed by the circumstances of life or what is going on the world, to mental health difficulties.
Some of these things we might feel like we have some control over, but many of them feel outside our control, things that happen to us, or have happened to us, and we whilst we know that our hearts don’t feel very peaceful, and we would love them to, we don’t know how to. We know that the lack of peace in our hearts is affecting our relationships with others, and that makes it worse, we feel even less peace. What are we meant to do about it?
I’d like to suggest that “peace within flows from peace received.” “Peace within flows from Peace received.”
Or, as Paul puts it, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. It is not just peace in general that Paul points to, it is the peace of Christ.
So, What is the peace of Christ? Well, shall we hear from the man himself? This is what Jesus said about his peace in a conversation with his friends and followers on the night before he died. We heard some of this conversation in our reading from John 16, but earlier on in that same conversation, in John 14 Jesus said:
John 14:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
and then we heard in John 16:
John 16:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
In the first of these verses Jesus contrasts the peace that he gives with the peace that the world gives and in the second he goes further – not only can the world not give you peace but it will cause you trouble. What is the world? It is anything that isn’t Jesus that we look to for peace. Money, education, fame, a better job, alcohol, nicer clothes, getting fit, better health. Nothing intrinsically wrong with any of them, and some of them are good, but none of them are actually going to bring us peace in and of themselves. In fact, putting our hopes for peace on any of them is more likely to lead to us being more troubled.
In contrast, the peace that Jesus gives is deep, reliable, and leads us into deeper peace. The things in the world that trouble us and make us afraid have been overcome by Jesus. He created us, he knows us, he loves us, he died for us and was raised to life for us and for our forgiveness. He offers us life in all its fulness.
However, it seems to me that the most important thing for us to get our heads round is that Jesus has given us his peace. It is a gift for us to receive. We don’t have to generate it, chase after it, grit our teeth and make it happen – it is a gift that we have been given for us to receive. This is why Paul writes, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts….”
And this is where I often hit a problem. Because I don’t always want to let the peace of Christ rule in my heart. Sometimes I want to hold on to my crossness with someone. I know I shouldn’t but I’m not quite ready to let go of it. On other occasions my anxiety gets in the way and I don’t know how to let the peace of Christ rule, and when I try it doesn’t seem to make any difference.
I’m not standing up here this morning with this all sorted, or wanting to pretend that it is easy, but I remain convinced that in the end peace between flows from peace within that flows from peace received. I believe that as we choose to trust Jesus, as we open ourselves more to the work of the Holy Spirit, as we rest in our loving Father’s arms so we can receive the peace of Christ, that it will rule in our hearts, calming our fears and sweetening our bitterness, and this will flow into true peace between us and we will be able to fulfil our call as the people of God, the body of Christ, to be a witness to the power of God’s love and peace to the world around us.
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