Live in Peace
A Word on the Carnality of Strife and Division amongst the Saints of God
"Finally brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Greet one another with an holy kiss. All the saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen" (2_Corinthians_13:11-14).
In the year of our Lord 59 Paul wrote his first letter to the church of God at Corinth. Five years previous to the writing of that letter he had laboured without ceasing for one year and a half in the city, "teaching the Word of God amongst them."
His work had been blessed of God, and the saints forming that assembly were the result of it; but alas, they were not consistent with the fellowship into which they had been called, and with an aching heart Paul wrote to chide them about their ways.
They were a proud and quarrelsome people, and, indeed, we should wonder why God had chosen and saved them, or why He bore with them at all, were it not that we, Christians of this twentieth century, are just as bad, or worse than they were, and yet in spite of this we are saved and preserved by the grace of God. Thank God, we know that He does not save men because of any good thing He sees in them, but because of the over-abounding grace of His own blessed heart.
These Corinthians were saved by the one gospel; they were called into the one fellowship; they were united by the one Spirit to the one glorious Head in heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ; and they were in consequence formed into one body. Surely such should have been of one mind and lived in peace with one another, but instead, there were contentions and strifes and divisions among them, and this seems to have been the Apostle's chiefest complaint against them, for this condition of things was utterly contrary to God's thought for them. Yet so blinded were they in their own conceits that they imagined that these divisions and debates were a sign of their wisdom and spirituality, when in reality they did but trumpet aloud their carnality and folly; yes, in the presence of men, angels, and devils they trumpeted their carnality and folly. They gloried in their shame, for their souls were out of tune with God, and that which was discord in His ear was music in theirs. We have to talk softly about them, while the red blood of shame mantles our cheeks, for we see our own sad ways mirrored in theirs, and as was the flesh in them, so is the flesh in us.
One year later the Apostle wrote to that assembly again, and in his final salutation he expressed the mind and thought of God for them. "Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace." It was the mind of God that all the saints should live in peace, and in each of the thirteen letters that bear Paul's name the desire for it is introduced.
This will be readily understood when we see that God is the God of peace; six times in the New Testament He is so called; but He is not only the God of peace in Himself, He is the Author of it for others (1_Corinthians_14:33), for all who belong to Him.
Sin and Satan's power compelled Him to come forth as the man of war, and in the greatness of His excellence He has overthrown them that rose up against Him, that He might deliver His redeemed from the hurtful yoke, and guide them in His strength unto His holy habitation (Exodus_15).
The great conflict took place upon the cross, and there God triumphed gloriously. His victory was complete, and as the "God of peace" He brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant (Hebrews_13:20).
The risen Lord came into the midst of His flock, and "PEACE" was the first word that He breathed upon them; and that word of the living Lord was henceforward to be characteristic of that gathered flock, for they were God's assembly, His circle, to be builded together at the coming of the Holy Spirit, for an habitation of God (Ephesians_2:22). God is the God of love and peace, and where love has full sway there peace will be. It will be readily admitted that God's nature should be manifested in His habitation, and because this is so those who form it are to maintain practically the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of PEACE (Ephesians_4:3).
How preposterous and wicked strife and division in the assembly appears to us when we contemplate the saints of God in this aspect. Yet through the carnality of those within it the sacred enclosure has been invaded by these things which are so utterly contrary to God; love has waned, peace has departed, and the name of God has been falsified.
Strife and contention in the churches could not originate with God, for He is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the saints" (1_Corinthians_14:33). It is from the flesh that these things spring, for we read: "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" (Jasmes_4:1). The devil, the malignant and untiring enemy of God, is behind the flesh. He can work upon it; he could have no foothold amongst the saints of God apart from it.
±±±
We hope you found this article interesting. We send out our material to the Lord's people, not in any party spirit but, in the spirit of the one body, seeking that it might be a blessing to all. Other helpful items can be found on our web site WeSeeJesus.com.
May the Lord bless and encourage you to go on in the pathway of faith for His glory.
Yours in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Don Lewis