June 23, 2023 -- Romans 12:18 -- Living peaceably with all brothers and sisters in Christ

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Romans 12:18 ESV

Dear family in our Lord Jesus Christ the opening of this chapter in Romans begins with the command for believers to offer their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is our spiritual act of worship. Then further commands and explanations through-out this chapter fill out the meaning of those opening words. So, the brief text before us today expands one aspect of what it means to live as a 'holy sacrifice'. The focus is living at peace with others; especially those who are fellow believers.

Today I am heading home from Marion, Indiana. I’ve spent the week attending the General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. It was good to see brothers in Christ deliberating. Some might say, arguing. My son Micah and his lovely wife Rebecca will sometimes smilingly say, “We’re not arguing, we are having intense fellowship”. I love that line. After some particularly intense fellowship during one of the sessions of synod, one man stood up, and before the gathered synodical delegates confessed he’d been stoking anger in his heart against someone, a brother whose been a friend for more than a decade. He was grieved by this. He expressed his sorrow. He also informed the gathering that he had humbled himself before this brother in order to make things right. They were reconciled and peace was restored.

During my “free time” (Synod breakfast begins at 7 AM and the first meeting start at 8:30AM and the day goes until 8:30pm or 9:15 on some days) I have been reading “Daniel Rowland and the Great Evangelical Awakening in Wales” by Eifion Evans. Evans remarked that two dear friends, Daniel Rowland and Howell Harris, experienced more and more strains and fractures in their relationship. Until finally, Harris' biographer, Richard Tibbot, in his critique of Harris noted:

You failed to distinguish between some and others of those you opposed,
and accused indiscriminately. You took things to extremes against those
you withstood, their persons and actions, depicting them as the blackest
rebels…You failed touse all the means for their recovery, and by dealing
harshly with them as enemies, you hardened them in their faults; you
concentrated too much on words at the expense of sense and substance…
You were too hasty in taking suspicion for fact.
Evans, page 340

Those words were some I’d read shortly after hearing the confession of that man in synod. Truly the man in synod was seeking to live peaceably with all. The quotation above is a wonderful, direct call for believers to examine themselves to see if they are honestly seeking to live peaceably with all. I recognize freely that recently in my own life I’d taken suspicion for fact, and needed to humble myself and confess my wrongdoing. Thanks be to God for the gift of Jesus Christ, through Whom we have true and lasting peace.

Our Father in heaven hallowed be Your Name! Thank You for the gift of Jesus Christ through Whom we are reconciled to You and have true and profound peace. Thank You, Father in heaven that You did not merely ignore our sinfulness nor brush it away as if it were nothing, but You fully punished it on the Person of Christ so that in Him all our seemingly irreconcilable differences can be submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Spirit of the Living God, help us as believers to walk in true humility before our Father in heaven and so live peaceably with our family in Jesus Christ. Amen.

https://youtu.be/yjPR09kdCgc “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” the song begins at 1:22

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