July 20, 2013 Peace Source

Read Ephesians 6 Peace Source Ephesians 6:23-24 Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. MOST of us go to a church where there are a good number of people like us, don’t we? I don’t mean they’re exactly as we are, but we worship with them because we have a few things in common. Perhaps our preferences for music, preaching, church ministries and even time of worship bring us to that one place in common each week. But are preferences the way to true unity? Actually preferences cause great disunity, don’t they? And that’s certainly what Paul desires to avoid. If you go back to page 1 of Ephesians and read it again, you will see Paul is writing to many people who have very little in common. They were masters, slaves, husbands, wives, Greeks, Jews, educated and uneducated. Certainly their preferences were diverse, too! Thus, when Paul closes his letter with the remarkable words of “peace”, “love”, “faith”, “grace” and “undying love” he reminds them of why he can call them “brothers” and they can relate to each other in that very personal way. Prayerfully, they will have the peace or unity when they focus on the eternal wonder of knowing Jesus. Yes, motivated by his love, God acted in grace to give them a saving faith. Their future can be an undying love for Jesus! As a loving shepherd, Paul longs for this and all churches to focus on their loving, gracious Savior. They have received Jesus’ gift because they all had one thing in common--sin. Now they have salvation in common. A Moment’s Thought: Personal preferences will change. Jesus will not.