Imitating the Prince of Peace. Introduction: cf. What do Mother Teresa, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela, and Barack Obama have in common?

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1 Imitating the Prince of Peace Introduction: cf. What do Mother Teresa, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela, and Barack Obama have in common? They were Nobel Peace Prize Recipients: Mother Teresa, 1979, Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991, Mandela, 1993, Obama, 2009 yet peace is still elusive for all of humanity and the world! The biblical concept of peace refers to the absence of hostility and conflict, a sense of security and serenity, the joy of reconciliation and forgiveness; shalom-peace means individual and community wholeness or well -being that is grounded upon God s restoration of the whole of His creation. According to Perry B. Yoder, Shalom: The Bible s Word for Salvation, Justice, and Peace, shalom in Scriptures refer to Material/physical well-being and prosperity Justice and Righteousness Straightforwardness/Integrity Shalom/peace is God s vision of how His whole creation ought to be and a call to individual life or character - transformation, social or community-transformation, and cosmic or world-transformation. Such peace cannot be generated by man alone; it takes supernatural works of God. And the prophet Isaiah, 700 yrs. before the birth of Christ, pointed to God s grand story of the restoration of such world of peace in the coming of the messiah, Jesus the Prince of Peace. Is. 9:6 For to us a child is born... and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called... Prince of Peace 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse... 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the cobra s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper s nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. We all yearn for such shalom-peace; in fact, the Apostle Paul talks about the whole of cosmos is moaning and groaning for the final arrival of such peaceful-wholesome renewal of heaven and earth. But, of course, the beginning of this cosmic transformation came when the promised Prince of Peace entered history: Lk. 2:13-14, Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to

2 God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests. Jesus taught about the blessedness of being peacemakers: Matt. 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. To become peacemakers sons of God - who reflect the character and attributes of God, we need the Son of God. On our own we can never be shalom-makers; with our selfserving and self-centered tendencies, most of the time we act out what some had called Satan s beatitude, Blessed are the troublemakers, they shall be called my children! The shalom-peace rules our hearts [the core of our being where decisions are made according to what we value most] when it becomes the umpire who tells us what and how we ought to live life that reflects the original intent and example of the Triune God, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit living in peace! In order for us to experience true peace, humans needs a renovation of heart because it s from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing [The Message]. Last Sunday pastor Steve talked about Embrace the Prince of Peace, the need to have a fresh start and begins with peace with God and others through what Jesus had accomplished for all of humanity and the world. He doesn t just open the way for all to experience peace on earth, Jesus models the way of shalom, wholesome living between God, people, and the world. Jesus opens the door for us to begin our shalom-making journey - He becomes our example to imitate and our guide to wholesome living. Jesus-followers are tasked to conform to the image of Christ; God... decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. Jesus stands first in the line of humanity God restored. We see the original and God intends to shape of our lives there in Jesus, i.e., to follow in His steps. What can we learn from Jesus, the Prince of Peace, who is the perfect shalom-maker? Let us look at how the bible describes the life of Jesus, as we follow in His steps. He lives a life of peace wholesomeness since childhood. Lk. 2:52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people. [The Message] Luke describes first, Jesus grew in wisdom...

3 Smarter (wisdom) here it s not about being highly intelligent, but Jesus growing in wisdom means He submits to His Father s authority and has a healthy reverence toward Him; Jesus knows God s word and how to apply in every situation, making good judgment in dealing with all kinds of life circumstances. As we imitate Jesus the Prince of Peace, we also need to renew and reform our minds and attitudes by discovering and applying biblical principles in our daily living. Transforming our minds replacing lies with truth - needs divine revelation; we saturate our minds with God s word so His Spirit can translate or apply it for our daily living. Scriptures are clear about this: Prov. 10:9 Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment. (New Living Translation) Ja. 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 2T3:16 Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us. (The Message) In the most rudimentary manner, we can describe the basic steps in gaining wisdom that involves our interaction with the Triune God - God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit: Imitating Jesus in Exercising Good Judgment Hearing God s Voice in the Spirit s Promptings Familiarity with God s Will in His Word Growing in wisdom requires hearing and responding to the Spirit s voice/promptings; the more we know God s word the Spirit s language the more wiser we will be! Luke then says that Jesus grew in stature... Stronger (stature) While there isn t much description about how Jesus took care of his physical body, there are instances of his deliberate choices to rest and gain perspective by spending personal time away from the crowd. Like Jesus, taking good care of our bodies is as spiritual as regular in-taking of scriptures and prayer we can see the loving tender care of Jesus toward His disciples: Mk. 6:30-32 The apostles then rendezvoused with Jesus and reported on all that they had done and taught. Jesus said, Come off by yourselves; let s take a break and get a little rest. For there was constant coming and going. They didn t

4 even have time to eat. So they got in the boat and went off to a remote place by themselves. (The Message) Taking care of our physical health is probably one of the most spiritual matters we can do to honour God and carry out His purpose in our day-to-day living as well as to care for our family! Teaching about living out our Christian identity, Paul admonishes in that we offer our bodies as instruments of righteousness (cf. Rom. 6) and that our bodies are temples of the Holy spirit (1C6:19). Let me throw this challenge to you: The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don t want, drink what you don t like, and do what you d rather not. [Mark Twain] Growing stronger and being healthy physically allows us to do good works. i.e., to pursue whatever God-honouring acts entrusted to us wherever we are. Luke continues to say that Jesus grew in favor with God... Deeper (in favor with God) In the Gospels we learn that Jesus and His Father are one - united in mind, spirit, will and purpose; the Son knows the heartbeats of the Father and the Father is in tune with His Son. Jesus is tight with his Father in heaven. Jn. 5:19-20 Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Jesus is never busy enough to compromise His regular connection with His Father; in fact, because His food is to do the will of His Father, He makes sure that His time with the Father is non-negotiable. The Father knows the Son and the Son the Father. Cf. In his book Soul Searching, Christian Smith summarized perceptions about God that are prevalent in the church and in contemporary culture. He said that most young evangelicals [and I would dare say many regular churchgoing adults as well] believed in what could best be described as "moral, therapeutic deism" (we could also call this viewpoint "the Santa Claus god"). Moral implies that God wants us to be nice. He rewards the good and withholds from the naughty. Therapeutic means that God just wants us to be happy. Deism means that God is distant and not involved in our daily lives. God may get involved occasionally, but on the whole, God functions like an idea not a personal being actively present in our world. According to Smith, this is the version of God that's prevalent in our culture and in our churches. Often without realizing it, every culture quietly molds and shapes our

5 views of God. But we can't grow in our relationship with God when we insist on relating to God as we think he should be. That's why our surrender to God-as-he-is, as revealed in the Bible, is so important. Otherwise, we will have a god of our own imaginations... [Submitted by Dave Dorr, Cincinnati, Ohio] The opening line of Richard Foster s book, Celebration of Discipline, is "Superficiality is the curse of this age". Many of us know about God, but not really knowing God in any deeper way; like the friends we have on FB, our interactions with God are skin deep and a mile wide. As Jesus is intimate with His Father, we are called to cultivate a deeper relationship with God, to infuse our lives with Christ-like qualities by scheduling regular time of personal and corporate worship, prayer, reading/listening, reflection and journaling listening to the promptings/leadings of the Spirit and developing our friendship with God. Last but not least, Luke says that Jesus grew in favour with men [and women]... Jesus drew crowds and commanded quite a following an assorted bunch of all kinds of people with mixed motives selfish ambitions and self-serving desires, good, bad, and ugly. He gained a reputation, good or bad depending on one s perspective, and he knew it: Lk. 7:34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. 35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children. Luke said that Jesus gained favor with men (and women); however, the most religious self-righteous bunch had problem with him. Jesus mission is to restore those who are sick, but not those who reject him and don t think they need any healing of any sort! Otherwise, He embraces anyone who acknowledges the need for healing, those seeking after God s shalom-peace! The lost, the last, the lonely, and the least felt His warmth and compassion He acted neighbourly and welcomed strangers! Warmer (in favor with men) like Jesus, we are called to reach out and cultivate impactful relationships by being vulnerable and supportive to people in our circles of influence. Someone once said, Live in such a way that those who know you but don t know God will come to know God because they know you. Would our family, relatives, colleagues, friends, neighbours, and strangers see Jesus in us and experience heaven-onearth when they encounter us at home, in the office, in family gatherings, in our classes, in the grocery store, on our driveways or the highway? Do people feel our heat or our warmth? Or are we more like the Pharisees?

6 We all long for heaven where God is but we have it in our power to be in heaven with Him right now... But being happy with Him now means: loving as He loves, helping as He helps, giving as He gives, serving as He serves, rescuing as He rescues, being with Him for all the twenty-four hours, touching Him in His distressing disguise [Mother Teresa] What we are is God's gift to me; what we become is my gift to Him. [Anonymous] Let us give God our gift of imitating Jesus in this coming year! Conclusion: Again, Jesus says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. We are shalom-makers in progress, like jewels being shaped by chisel and gold being refined by fire. In this coming year, 2014, we ll be teaching on what it means to be a community of Christ-followers [Discipleshift: Finding New Traction in Following Jesus], being shalommakers, with the following two objectives: INTRODUCING A STRATEGY FOR MAKING DISCIPLES NAMING AND ADDRESSING BARRIERS TO DISCIPLESHIP I hope that in this coming year you will be able to grow in Christ s shalom, first by learning what it means to be a wholesome Christ-follower, then identify all the obstacles and hindrances that are blocking your growth and then apply all the resources made available to find new traction in following Jesus.

We are broken We long for rescue

Obsessed with Super Heroes? We are broken We long for rescue Isaiah 11 Isaiah 11 Is. 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. Our hope