Because of God’s tremendous compassion for everyone, I beg you, my dear
family, to put your congregations on the altar, as a still living but holy
sacrifice to God. This is what is
acceptable to God, your sincere act of loving devotion among your congregation. Don’t be formed by the thinking of this
era—that of stereotypes and judgment— but be re-created, having your minds
rebooted to the will of God, and so proving by your actions what the good and
pleasing and complete will of God is. I
was given a message from the Lord to share with all of you: Don’t consider
yourself to be better than others in everything. Be sensible, and admit that each one of you
has granted each one of you a measure of faith, even if that faith looks
differently….Our congregations are to be characterized by sincere love for one
another. We are all to be rid of the
evil in our congregations, but to grasp onto the good. We are to have affectionate love for each
other. We are to be diligent without
procrastination. We are to be enthusiastic
in character. We serve the Lord. We rejoice in hope. We endure in suffering. We persist in prayer. We are to give to the needs of the
saints. We are to practice
hospitality. As the representatives of
Jesus, you know already that we are to bless those who persecute us—we speak
well of them and do not verbally destroy them.
As Jesus, we rejoice with the joyful and mourn with the weeping. Well, this is how we should behave to other
groups of Christians, as well as those outside the faith. We aren’t to be arrogant over other
Christians, but we are to associate with the lowly and the weak among us. Don’t be self-important. Just because you’ve got the money, don’t
think that you can tell the others what to do.
Just because you’ve got the word of God, that doesn’t mean that you can
order others around. Just because you’ve
proven your faith, it doesn’t mean that everyone has to listen to your
opinions. Nor does it give anyone the
right to attack others, no matter what they’ve done to you. If someone does something evil to you, don’t
act immorally back to them. Instead,
spend time thinking ahead of time about how you can do good to everyone. With all of your ability, live in peace and
community with ALL people—even fellow Christians who disagree with you.
We Got to Start Somewhere, But There’s Just So Far To
Go
What can we do? We live in a world rejecting shalom, pursuing
materialism, sexual gratification and false philosophies and calling it
happiness. In the midst of their self-
authentication, self-actualization and self-gratification, the people of the
world has destroyed well-being for others around them. The world ignores the needs of those around
them, they avoid thinking of the harm they have caused others and they do all
they can to shore up their hope that someday, somehow, their lives will be
okay.
This
wouldn’t be so bad if the church was really any different. Instead, we live in a church that has bought
what the world had to say about truth and joy for 1800 years. The church flies on a pendulum which swings
from a drive to punish all those irresponsible and filled with self-interest to
being wholly accepting and supporting people even in their drive to destroy
themselves and others.
The
answer to this is the shalom of Jesus.
Jesus calls us to communities of shalom—a disciplined grace which leads
to peace on earth. But how can we—when
all the governments and churches and non-profits in the world have
failed—succeed in creating peace where only chaos and hatred has reigned?
Creating Shalom
- Understand
our baptism
First, we must understand
what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
To be baptized is to die, to have our old life, with its philosophies
and materialism cast aside, no longer living in it. And we must live the principles of
Jesus. Jesus is faithful, and we can
live in that faithfulness. We must
realize that being a follower of Jesus isn’t a matter of belief, but of
lifestyle. So we must pursue Jesus—the
real Jesus as presented in the gospels—surrender our lives and live for Him.
- Live
the principles of shalom
Then, as Jesus teaches us, we
understand more and more the principles of peace that he taught us. We will learn his principles of purity, of
faithfulness, of devotion to God and love of others. In all this, we will become more like the
people who can create shalom in the world because we will embody shalom.
- Accept
the Anawim
As we learn Jesus’ way, we
find that so many of the world’s categories no longer apply. Those which the world rejects—even for good reason!—we
will welcome and offer God’s love and peace.
Those who are blamed because of their poverty we will receive and share
with. Those who are hated we will love
and offer hope and community through Jesus.
- Join a
community of shalom
It is not enough for us to
enact shalom as individuals, we must be in a community of shalom. This means participating in a group of
baptized faithful in Jesus who are allowing God to transform them into
shalom-makers. This must be a community
welcoming to the outcast and a community ready to participate in koinonia.
- Speak
prophetically
As we live out Jesus’ life
and community of shalom, then we must share with others the principles of
shalom as we live them out. We cannot
speak them if we do not live them, but we must share what Jesus has taught us
and we do live out. We do not speak this
in order to judge others, but in reality to warn them of Jesus’ judgment
against those who oppose shalom.
- Live in
trust and patience
It is easy to get
discouraged. We can look at the world
and see what a big task it is to transform it.
We can look at the church and see how faithless and fear-peddling it
is. We can look at our failures to live
out shalom, and throw up our hands in despair.
But this is where the faith of Abraham (and of Jesus) comes in. Abraham, despite his own failures and
weaknesses, despite the impossibilities of the promise God gave him, Abraham
trusted that God could and would do it.
He never forsook God, but continued in patience, even as he suffered for
those who suffered due to their rejection of shalom. Even so, when it looks like all has failed
and God is no where to be found, we need to be patient, and give room for God
to work in His own time.
- Pray
for God’s shalom
Finally, Jesus tells us to
pray for God’s kingdom to come, for the shalom to happen on earth. Ultimately, if peace and justice are to rule
the earth, if shalom is to break into anyone’s life, it must be done by God’s
work. If that is the case, then our main
task is that of asking God to cause shalom to come. Pray for others, that they may experience
God’s full shalom. Pray for the church,
that they may understand and live out God’s full shalom. And pray for the world that it might be
transformed into God’s kingdom.
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