Moments in the life of a Pastor

Walking with God

Author Archives: Giles


by Leave a comment

9. Cultivating Christ Like Character, Peace – Part 2

Philippians 4:1-9

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work. 2 Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. 3 And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life. 4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

After talking about our position in Christ Paul now reminds us of the power of:

  1. Praise

This second key to acquiring divine peace is found in proclaiming praise even in the problems. You see peace is not the absence of problems but the presence of God. In verse 4 Paul tells us to rejoice and to thank God for all that He has done, “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!” The problem with worry and fear is that because it becomes our focus we lose sight of God’s faithfulness. When that happens we fail to count our blessings because we fail to see or acknowledge how good our God has already been to us. There is a stanza in the great hymn Amazing Grace that reminds us of His faithfulness: “Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come. Tis grace that has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.” When was the last time that you reflected upon how God has faithfully brought you down the path of your past and to the present? When was the last time you thanked Him for His past care? What are the many dangers, toils and snares that He has delivered you from? What if right now you took time to tally up all those times the Father has faithfully and lovingly led you thus far?  But, don’t stop at thanking God for His past provisions, blessings and deliverance. We need to thank Him for our present blessings as well as our past ones. When we intentionally celebrate in the Lord, we invite his presence and comfort into our lives. No matter how distressing or difficult our current circumstances or situation, we have a Savior that will never leave us or forsake us. You see despite the difficulties we can still experience His Divine blessings because no matter what problems we face we can still experience His presence. The third peace prescription is one we often overlook, be:

  1. Polite

Verse 5 says, “Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do.” So much of our people problems and lack of peace come because we are not considerate. Instead of being considerate and reflecting Christ by putting the needs of others ahead of our own we can be carless and even callused. The world doesn’t need another critical, condemning Christian, they need the love of the Lord. So, let me ask you, are you being Jesus or being a jerk to the people around you? Are you redeeming the time or just being rude and running over people? Sadly, we have become a selfish society that looks out for self instead of looking for ways to serve. The basic manners of please and thankyou have become a thing of the past. So, in your everyday interactions with people are you polite? Are you courteous or careless? In order to be considerate I have to put the focus on others, which means I have to take the focus of off self. When I make it about me it’s not long before I get mean, but when I make it about the Master it becomes about His mercy and looking for ways to minister and share the Lord’s love. The fourth prescription for peace is a:

  1. Proper Perspective

Verse 5 reminds us of the reality of Christ’s return, “Remember, the Lord is coming.” Sometimes we act as if this world is all there is and so instead of living for the Lord we get wrapped up in life. But focusing on the big picture protects us from being petty or getting wrapped up in the problems. The truth is you can’t focus on Christ and the crisis, either you will get caught up in His power or caught up in the problems. Paul reminds us to stand on the foundation of our faith not on our feelings by reminding us of the facts, Christ is in control and as the King He is coming. Our hope is not in our health or our wealth it is in Jesus. While we don’t know what tomorrow holds we do know who holds tomorrow. We don’t have to fear the future when our faith is in the Father and our focus is on His Son. The return of Jesus is the rock we hook our hope to. Are you anchored to the author of life or caught up in the chaos of life? The promise of His return is the hope that prop up our hearts and keeps them from collapsing. But like most things in life, you have a choice to make. Either you can patiently establish your heart in the promise of Christ’s coming. Or you can take your eyes off Jesus and put them on the junk. Many of us have an absence of peace and an abundance of panic because we have lost perspective. We have taken our eyes of off the Savior and put them on the struggles. So how are you doing, is your perspective one of praise or pouting, are you being caring and considerate or callused?

 


by Leave a comment

8. Cultivating Christ Like Character, Peace – Part 1

Philippians 4:1-9

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work. 2 Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. 3 And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life. 4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

As we continue to look at “Cultivating Christ Like Character” Galatians 5:22 reveals the third virtue of the fruit of the Spirit, Peace. Peace is something we all want but few of us seem to have. Unfortunately today many Christians instead of living in, and living out God’s provision of peace, live in the problems and live out the panic. Peace is one of God’s greatest gifts that not only blesses our lives but also benefits those we pass it onto. Sadly many of us have a perverted view of God, seeing Him as a punisher instead of as a provider of peace. We don’t embrace His peace because we expect punishment. But God promises peace to His people not punishment. It is here in Philippians 4 that we discover three aspects to God’s peace:

Peace with God – This is the vertical dimension. In Romans 5:1 it says: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Our sin separates us from God, but the Saviors sacrifice puts us at peace with God. This what I call a saving peace. So, let me ask you do you have peace with God? Has there been a point in your life when you not only admitted that you were a sinner, but accepted Christ as the only Savior for your sin? The second aspect to God’s peace is the:

Peace of God – This takes place internally. Philippians 4:6-7 say: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This is a securing peace that calms both our hearts and our heads in challenging times. It’s a peace that transcends not only our understanding but our troubles. The third peace is:

Peace with others – when we have peace with God and we experience the peace of God, we can then extend peace horizontally. Matthew 5:9 says: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.” Jesus didn’t call us to be “peacekeepers,” but “peacemakers.” Fear tends to bring friction and create factions between people, but peace provides a platform to confront conflict. So that instead of competing we start complementing. We are called to be peace workers not war workers. This is a serving peace, that desires to help not to hinder and hurt. Christians should be known as people of peace who don’t just live in God’s provision of peace but live out His peace by passing it on to others. It’s here in Philippians 4 that we see two women at war with one another. It’s not that they don’t want peace, we all want peace; the problem is that we want peace on OUR terms which instead of leading to peace usually leads to problems and conflict. So how do we have peace with people? It’s here in Philippians 4 that Paul reveals God’s prescription for peace, and he starts first by reminding us of our peace with God as he reminds these women of their:

  1. Position in Christ

In verse 2 we read Paul pleading with these women to pursue peace based on their relationship with the Redeemer, “Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement.” As Colossians 1:20 states: “through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” It is at the cross alone that the gospel of peace is discovered. Today we spend millions of hours and billions of dollars in bookstores, courtrooms and counseling offices searching for ways to resolve conflict and attain a measure of peace. But how much of our time and treasure do we wasted on worthless places looking for peace? In our pursuit for peace why do we constantly pass over the only place where real peace presides, the cross of Calvary? Colossians 1:20 reminds us that reconciliation is a result of Christ shedding His blood to buy us back from bondage. He purchased our peace at the cross. Have you knelt at the foot of the cross before Christ, have you admitted your sin before the sinless Savior? Do you believe that the blood of Jesus that has the power to purify you from sin? Do you believe that on the cross Christ conquered sin and defeated death? Have you confessed Christ as your only Savior from sin? It’s at the cross that we discover peace with God and His gift of grace that gives us the power to make peace with others. Because Jesus has freed us from the penalty of sin we can break free from those sinful attitudes and the habits we harbor that foster conflict and pollute peace. Are you pursuing God’s peace, are you making it your priority and passion? What places are you look to for peace? Are you stuck sifting through the millions of supposed solutions or are you secure because at the cross of Calvary you found the Savior?