Year 5, Day 320: Proverbs 29

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: People of Peace

• People of Peace: A person of peace is someone whom God has prepared to hear God’s message through you.  God does all the work of preparing that person for your presence in their life. Because of this preparation, these people will like you.  They will listen to you.  They will serve with you as you live out God’s calling for your life.

It’s been a while since I’ve spoken about people of peace.  While it may not seem like it at first, this chapter has people of peace theory all throughout it.  The idea of people of peace is the idea that we must be willing to listen.  A person of peace is someone to whom you can speak because they are open to what you have to say.

If we look at this chapter in Proverbs we hear several different perspectives on this topic.  The first perspective are all the verses that speak about listening to the wrong voices.  The companion of prostitutes squanders.  The fool rages against the wise.  The ruler who listens to falsehood has officials that are corrupt.  When we keep the company of sinfulness, we become sinful ourselves.

Another perspective that this chapter gives is our response to other people speaking into our life.  If we are rebuked and we stiffen our neck, we are asking for things to go poorly for us.  If we love wisdom, our elders are made glad.  The rod and reproof brings wisdom; but if we seek to be left alone from these things we will only bring shame into our life.

Finally, we have words to the speaker.  The truth is that we are not only to go through this life looking for those people that can influence us but also those whom we can ourselves influence.  Kings should seek justice for the poor – or otherwise oppressed.  Parents should seek to bring up their children rightly.  When speaking, we would do well to consider our words and hold our tongue.

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Year 5, Day 2: 2 Kings 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: People of Peace

• People of Peace: A person of peace is someone whom God has prepared to hear God’s message through you.  God does all the work of preparing that person for your presence in their life. Because of this preparation, these people will like you.  They will listen to you.  They will serve with you as you live out God’s calling for your life.

I was touched by the Shunammite woman as I read through this passage today.  Take a look at what she does.  She asks her husband to build a room for Elisha.  The room is up on their rooftop.  And it is just to be used for Elisha.

Notice that Elisha doesn’t even ask for this.  In fact, let’s look back even further as to how that relationship happened.  When Elisha would pass by, the woman fed Elisha.  She had been in the habit of giving him food and supporting his ministry well before she built the room for Elisha.  Elisha didn’t ask for any of it; but he sure appreciated the effort.

Here is a person of peace for Elisha.  Here is a woman who desires to serve him.  She desires to help him in whatever way to fulfill God’s calling for his life.  God had prepared her heart to help Elisha.  God had also prepared her heart to receive a symbol of His grace as well.  Elisha recognizes this fact and ministers in her life and she has a son.  The woman was a person of peace for Elisha and Elisha was present in her life in a very meaningful way.

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Year 4, Day 337: 2 Samuel 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: People of Peace

• People of Peace: A person of peace is someone whom God has prepared to hear God’s message through you.  God does all the work of preparing that person for your presence in their life. Because of this preparation, these people will like you.  They will listen to you.  They will serve with you as you live out God’s calling for your life.

As we look at this chapter, I’m going to try and say something meaningful about the concept of People of Peace.  If we look at David, we remember that he is just coming off of a war against his own son, Absalom.  His own people, the people of Judah, supported Absalom.  When the battle is over, David knows that there is some repair that needs to happen.

So David begins to draw the people of Judah close.  He begins to invite them closer into his life.  He begins to allow them to have special roles and special functions.

Here is the amazing thing.  It works!  The people of Judah respond.  The same people that once supported Absalom in order to oust David now find him to be desirable.  They are willing to serve him.  They are willing to listen to him.  They are willing to see what God is doing in David’s life and join in.  That’s what People of Peace are all about.  Even among David’s enemies can People of Peace be found!

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Year 4, Day 247: Acts 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: People of Peace

• People of Peace: A person of peace is someone whom God has prepared to hear God’s message through you.  God does all the work of preparing that person for your presence in their life. Because of this preparation, these people will like you.  They will listen to you.  They will serve with you as you live out God’s calling for your life.

The people of peace concept is always very appropriate to study within the missionary journeys of Paul.  There is something that is absolutely true about Paul.  Paul polarizes people.  There are always some people in the towns into which Paul goes that are absolutely drawn to him and beg him to stay with them and teach them more.  However, there are always also people who want to stone Paul, or arrest Paul, or follow to whatever town he goes to next and make trouble for him there.  Acts seems to tell us that when a person met Paul they either really liked him or really despised him.  Where Paul was, it became very clear very quickly who was a person of peace and who was not.

I wonder if this is a bad thing.  After all, it happened everywhere Paul went.  As we talked about yesterday, Paul was always challenging people.  It would only be natural for Paul to challenge people into desiring to listen or desiring to get rid of him.

I can’t also help but wonder how much of this dynamic we see today.  Are the spiritual leaders in our midst challenging people into greater faith?  Or are the spiritual leaders in our midst about pleasing people and making them happy?  When you go to be among the believers, are you welcomed into a cozy culture of acceptance or are you invited into a challenging culture where growth is expected?  Are the people of faith around you looking for people of peace that they can help to shape and grow or are they simply interested in warm bodies to sit in the pews?

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Year 4, Day 219: Luke 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: People of Peace

• People of Peace: A person of peace is someone whom God has prepared to hear God’s message through you.  God does all the work of preparing that person for your presence in their life. Because of this preparation, these people will like you.  They will listen to you.  They will serve with you as you live out God’s calling for your life.

This chapter is a no-brainer for the teaching of People of Peace.  In the opening passage of Luke 10, we hear Jesus say to the 72 that they are to go into the world and look for people who “receive their peace.”  If a person receives their peace they are to stay with them and teach them all that they can.  If someone does not receive their peace, they are to not feel bad about moving along and finding someone who receives their peace.  In a nutshell, Jesus is telling his disciples to go through life looking for People of Peace (people who receive their peace) upon whom they can focus their time and energy.

Lo and behold, it works!  The 72 are successful!  The 72 find people who are willing to listen.  The 72 find people upon whom they can bring the grace of God.  They find people to teach and lift up and they come back to Jesus excited.

If we look at the last story of this chapter, we also see a great example in Mary.  Look at Mary’s position.  She sits at the feet of Jesus.  She just wants to absorb everything that Jesus can offer to her.  She’s a great personal example of what Jesus is talking about with respect to a Person of Peace.  Jesus cannot miss the fact that Mary is a Person of Peace for Him.  Granted, He’s the Son of God so He already knew it would be that way.  But we really should take the time and celebrate Mary for her ability to demonstrate her desire to be a person of peace to Jesus.  She takes the bull by the horns and is bold in her approach to Christ.

So to whom can you be a Person of Peace?  Whose feet would you easily sit at to learn what God would teach you about faith?  What about the other direction – who in your life might be willing to sit at your feet and learn what God would teach them through you?

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Year 4, Day 214: Luke 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: People of Peace

• People of Peace: A person of peace is someone whom God has prepared to hear God’s message through you.  God does all the work of preparing that person for your presence in their life. Because of this preparation, these people will like you.  They will listen to you.  They will serve with you as you live out God’s calling for your life.

Let’s look at this topic two days in a row.  It only makes sense, after all.  In Luke 5 we get two classic calling stories.  We get the call of the first disciples and we get the call of Levi (Matthew).

Let’s take a look here at the calling of Peter (and the other fishermen).  Luke gives us an expanded story to that which we find in Matthew and in Mark.  Rather than just “passing by” and “telling the fishermen to follow,” we see Jesus do a little more in Luke.  Luke tells us that Jesus walks up to the boat, gets in it, and pushes off in Peter’s boat.  No doubt Peter is wondering what is going on.  But notice that Peter complies with the action!  Peter likes Jesus and he is willing to serve Jesus’ ministry.  Then we see that after the teaching is done Jesus makes the request about throwing in the nets.  Peter offers a small grumble but does as Jesus asks.  This shows us that Peter is willing to listen to Jesus in the midst of his service, too.

Now let’s look at the calling of Levi.  Jesus speaks to Levi, and he listens and follows.  This clearly demonstrates that Levi must like Jesus and he is likewise willing to listen to Jesus.  Second, notice that Levi throws a celebration at his house and invites all his friends.  Again we see that Levi is willing to serve the ministry of Jesus by putting Jesus in contact with as many friends as he could muster.

The same is true for many of the other healing stories in this chapter.  The crowd around Jesus likes Him.  They listen to Him.  And in bringing Him people to be healed they are serving Him.  Of course, I’m sure there are many in the crowd who are just looking for the spectacle.  But even those are still serving His ministry in a backwards kind of manner.

What can we learn from Luke 5?  In Luke 5 we understand the basic underpinnings of discipleship.  Disciples like their mentor.  Disciples listen to their mentor.  Disciples willingly serve the mission of their mentor.  It’s what Jesus’ disciples do to Jesus.  Why should we think that we are any different than them?

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Year 4, Day 213: Luke 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: People of Peace

• People of Peace: A person of peace is someone whom God has prepared to hear God’s message through you.  God does all the work of preparing that person for your presence in their life. Because of this preparation, these people will like you.  They will listen to you.  They will serve with you as you live out God’s calling for your life.

This is a great story through which we can see the lens of People of Peace.  Of course, to do it means that I’ll need to skip over the temptation of Jesus, which is a great story through which we could study the dynamic of Approval, Appetite, and Ambition.  But for today, let’s look at People of Peace.

Notice what happens when we get to Nazareth.  Jesus opens up the scroll and starts to teach.  The people seem to give Him praise, but we can tell by Jesus’ reaction that it was just lip service.  They aren’t really deeply affected by His teaching; they are just amazed that a carpenter can speak this way.  Here’s another way of thinking about it.  They are willing to be amazed at Jesus but they don’t really want to participate in His ministry.  In fact, they are so opposed to participating in His ministry that they want to throw Him off of the cliff.

Following the Nazareth story we have three stories of success.  Back in Capernaum, the people are willing to join His ministry and a demoniac is healed.  They continue to bring people to Jesus so that they can experience God’s power.  Many people are healed and word of Jesus’ ministry spreads.  Even when Jesus tried to have some alone time the people sought Him out and wanted to hear His teaching.

You don’t get a bigger contrast of stories about people of peace than here in Luke 4.  The people of Nazareth don’t want to hear and they miss out.  The people of Capernaum want to hear so much that they pursue Jesus even into the wilderness.  People of Peace pursue truth.  It’s just that simple.

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Year 4, Day 154: Deuteronomy 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character

• People of Peace: A person of peace is someone whom God has prepared to hear God’s message through you.  God does all the work of preparing that person for your presence in their life. Because of this preparation, these people will like you.  They will listen to you.  They will serve with you as you live out God’s calling for your life.

At the end of this chapter, we get the opportunity to hear Moses speak about his conversation with God.  He reminds the people who are listening to him as he gives one of his final addresses that he is not going into the Promised Land because of his association with the people of the wicked generation.  Because the people were stubborn and rebellious, Moses was in a place where his own anger was easily brought forth.

Don’t get me wrong.  It might sound like I’m trying to let Moses off the hook.  I’m not, really.  Ultimately he is responsible for his own actions.  But I do think there is a lesson we can learn from him.  When we spend the majority of our time around People of Peace we will feel productive and it is we who will impact others.  But when we spend time around stubborn and rebellious people who have no desire to like you or listen to you then we are most likely to end up sinning rather than having a productive influence in the world.

This leads me to a message for mentees.  When you are looking for a spiritual mentor or actually being mentored, remember your role.  Although you are the mentee, you can still profoundly influence your mentor.  In fact, you can influence your mentor more than most people in the world because of the care that the mentor has for you and the role God has asked them to play in your life.  While none of us are perfect, when you are being mentored be careful to be in a position to allow yourself to be drawn to God more than you are in a position to draw your mentor away from Him.

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Year 4, Day 4: Genesis 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: People of Peace, Octagon

• People of Peace: A person of peace is someone whom God has prepared to hear God’s message through you.  God does all the work of preparing that person for your presence in their life. Because of this preparation, these people will like you.  They will listen to you.  They will serve with you as you live out God’s calling for your life.

In this passage, I believe we see two examples of the person of peace principle.  One of them is a negative example.  The other is very much a positive example, although it is quite a generalized one.

Let’s take the negative example: Cain.  Cain killed his brother.  He was guilty of impiety (v. 3), anger (v. 5), deception (v. 8), murder (v. 8), falsehood (v. 9), self-seeking (v. 13), and self-alienation from God Himself (v. 16).  Of course, we all sin.  So Cain isn’t really guilty of anything more than I am guilty or even that Adam and Eve were guilty.   So here is where the Person of Peace mindset comes in. 

We see that when their children are born, Adam and Eve still give praise to God.  In spite of their sin and being kicked out of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve recover and continue to have a relationship with God.  Cain, however, is not prepared to learn from their example.  At any point Cain could have admitted his sin, accepted the consequences, repented, and turned back to his relationship with God.  But he does not do so.  He is not willing to receive that testimony out of his parents’ lives.  So his sin divides him from God because he does not allow God to prepare his heart.

However, at the end of the chapter we hear that Seth is born to Adam and Eve and Seth himself has a child.  At this time other people begin to call upon the name of the Lord.  Adam and Eve – in spite of the failure of Cain – are not hindered by that scenario.  They continue to look for people that they can teach to see the value of having a relationship with God.  They continue to look for the people who are open and in whom God has prepared their hearts.  The result is great.  People begin to call upon the name of the Lord.

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Year 3: Day 359: Revelation 15-16

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: People of Peace

• People of Peace: A person of peace is someone whom God has prepared to hear God’s message through you.  God does all the work of preparing that person for your presence in their life. Because of this preparation, these people will like you.  They will listen to you.  They will serve with you as you live out God’s calling for your life.

It might seem odd to talk about people of peace on a day that we read about the outpouring of God’s final judgment of the earth.  After all, could there be any time of human existence where people were less receptive to God than at the end of this age?

In that question, though, we can find the reason why I decided to focus on the concept of People of Peace today.  The people of Revelation 16 rebel against God.  These people curse God when He comes against them.  These people are antagonistic to God having power in their life.  These people have no interest in repentance.  These people are focused on themselves and that means nothing can be done with them except judgment.  These people are in the time of judgment because none are left who will listen.  These people are in the time of judgment because there is none who desires to be at peace with God.

What can we learn from this?  A person of peace perceives God’s preparation within them and receives it.  A person of peace is willing to submit to the power of truth.  A person of peace is one who desires relationship with God and God’s people.  A person of peace is one who receives God’s proclamation about our need to repent and live according to His ways while rejecting the ways of the world.

When we cease being a person of peace to God and God’s people, there is nothing that remains for us except judgment.

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