Peace of God

2 Corinthians 1:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul greats the Corinthian church with the grace of God and also the peace of God. We tend to think of peace as the absence of conflict in our lives. But that isn’t all he is talking about here. In fact later in this chapter he talks about suffering and affliction which comes from being a follower of Jesus Christ. So he must be talking about something else besides what we consider peaceful lives. I think first of all he reminds us that we are at peace with God through the grace of God. We are no longer enemies of God. We are no longer in conflict with God. We receive God’s comfort. As I said last time we have committed high treason against God by our sin. Yet through God’s grace we are forgiven and are at peace with him. His peace surpasses our understanding and helps us to understand the next portion of this chapter which we will get into next time.

Grace of God

I recently started reading through the book of 2nd Corinthians. I thought that along the way I would share some of what I have gleaned from the word of God.

2 Corinthians 1:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I just enjoy reading this verse. Take a moment and read it out loud. Go ahead, say it out loud. If someone is near you maybe they need to hear about God’s grace and peace. Soak it in. God’s grace is amazing. It is beyond our comprehension that God would love us so much that he would pay the price himself so that we could be in a right relationship with him even though we are sinners. God’s grace takes away that ultimate penalty for our sins. We who have sinned against the creator of the universe, who have committed high treason against the supreme ruler, are forgiven not because of anything we have done or could do to earn it but because of God’s gift of grace. Next time we will look at God’s peace.

Wisdom of God or foolishness of men?

This past Sunday we examined 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. In this passage Paul contrasts the wisdom of God with the wisdom of people. In fact the passage shows that our wisdom is foolish when compared to God’s wisdom. We see God’s wisdom as foolish even though we can’t even agree on what is wise or not. I want to look at some other passages from the Bible that talk about being foolish and see what we can learn.

Psalms 14:1 The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."

Many say this today. We are surrounded by people who claim there is no God. It seems to me that they disregard the possibility that maybe they don’t know everything. I could see someone saying that there is a god but not one who is involved with us. That at least takes into account that people do not know everything. To say that there is no god at all presupposes knowledge that we just do not have as humans. In fact I believe it takes more faith to believe that there is no god at all than there is to believe in a personal God who has revealed himself to us.

How does the world see us?

On Sunday the question was posed “How does the world see us?” Peculiar, odd, weird or intolerant were the answers given. It raises the question in my mind of wow should the world see us? Well the fruit of the spirit is in Galatians 5:22-23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” When people see Christians this is what they should see. People so full of these things that it can’t be explained other than by bringing God into the conversation. This should describe each follower of Jesus Christ. What keeps you from having this fruit evident in your life? How can you work to have this fruit show up? It comes from walking close to Jesus not from just avoiding a list of do’s and don’ts. The disciples were marked by the leaders of Israel not because of their intelligence or speech but because they had been with Jesus. Spend time with Jesus and he will develop the fruit in your life.