Eager for Peace
We live in a profoundly divided age. Our culture splinters along a thousand fault lines: politics, race, economics, health policies, educational philosophies, even coffee preferences. We've become experts at manufacturing reasons to separate ourselves from one another, to draw lines in the sand, to declare who's in and who's out.
But what if there was a community that operated by an entirely different set of rules? What if there was a people so unified, so committed to peace with one another, that it stopped the world in its tracks?
That's exactly what the Apostle Paul envisions in Ephesians 4:1-6, a passage that challenges us to become what we're called to be: a Community of Peace in service to the Prince of Peace.
A Calling Worth Fighting For
Paul begins with a simple but weighty command: "Walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received." This isn't a casual suggestion. It's a clarion call to live consistently with our identity in Christ.
But what is this calling? It's not merely personal salvation or a ticket to heaven. According to Paul's earlier chapters, the calling is communal, God is building a new humanity, constructing a temple, forming a body. The calling is to be *one*.
This reveals the absurdity of division within the church. Imagine conjoined twins sharing a single body but fighting with each other. It's ridiculous because when one attacks the other, both feel the pain. The same is true for the Body of Christ. When we gossip about a fellow believer, we're cutting our own arm. When we harbor bitterness against a brother or sister, we're poisoning our own bloodstream.
Jesus said a house divided against itself cannot stand. So why do we think we can tear down other Christians and not bleed ourselves?
The world desperately needs to see a people who live differently than the tribalism dominating our newsfeeds and social media. When the church mirrors the same fractures, the same us-versus-them mentality, the same inability to love across differences, we lose our apologetic credibility. Our greatest witness in a post-Christian culture isn't primarily arguments; it's a community that displays the supernatural power of the gospel to unite people across every human division.
The Character That Creates Peace
Paul doesn't leave us with abstract ideals. He gets immediately practical, outlining four characteristics that create peace: humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love.
Humility means stepping off the throne of our tiny kingdoms. We all have this claustrophobic little world where we are king. Where people should drive the way we want, agree with our opinions, appreciate us exactly as we desire. When someone violates the laws of our kingdom, war breaks out. Humility recognizes we're not the center of the universe. It looks at the person we disagree with and genuinely says, "I could be wrong. My perspective is limited."
Gentleness is power under control, like a warhorse trained to respond to the slightest touch. It's the ability to be strong without being harsh, to handle difficult people without breaking them. Are you trying to win arguments or restore relationships? Do your words cut people down or heal them?
Patience means having a long fuse. It means not exploding the moment something goes sideways, not immediately reacting when someone disappoints us. It means absorbing the blow instead of striking back.
Bearing with one another in love is where community gets real. People are heavy—not physically, but relationally and emotionally. If you're going to be in authentic relationship, you'll carry weight. You'll bear the weight of bad days, annoying habits, sinful patterns, fears, and insecurities.
Here's the truth: you are heavy too. Some people are frustrated with their community because it's not perfect, hoping for a group that's easy and never annoying. That group doesn't exist. And if it did, you'd ruin it with your own brokenness.
We're all sinners in the process of sanctification. We all have sharp elbows. Peace isn't passive, it's the active pursuit of reconciliation and unity despite our differences. It's like a couple planning a cross-country trip who agree on the destination and route but fight so intensely about who should drive that they never leave the driveway. That's the church too often—agreeing on Jesus and the gospel but fighting over who's driving, over preferences and secondary issues.
The motivation? Christ bore the infinite weight of your sin on the cross. If He could carry that for you, surely by His Spirit you can carry a little relational annoyance for your brother or sister.
Maintaining the Oneness You Already Have
Here's the game-changer: Paul says to "maintain the unity of the Spirit," not create it. Unity isn't something we manufacture through effort. It's a gift we receive and then maintain.
When you placed faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit baptized you into His Body. You became one with every other believer on the planet, regardless of denomination, ethnicity, politics, or socioeconomic status. That's finished. The question isn't "Are we one?" We are. The question is "Are we acting like it?"
Paul gives seven theological foundations for this unity: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. The same Spirit dwells in that person you struggle with. You're going to the same eternal destination. You serve the same Master. You trust the same gospel. You're in the same family.
The things that unite us in Christ are infinitely greater than the things that divide us.
Living It Out
Our culture bonds over secondary things—hobbies, politics, income. When those change, friendships evaporate. But in the church, we bond over the "ones" Paul lists. We can look at believers across the world who have nothing in common with us naturally and say, "That is my brother. That is my sister."
The challenge is this: Is there someone in your church you're not at peace with? Someone you're avoiding? Someone whose name makes your jaw clench? The Prince of Peace calls you to deal with that.
Check your "Kingdom of Self." When you get frustrated this week, ask: "Why am I angry? Is it because righteousness has been violated, or because I didn't get my way?"
Then be eager. Make a move toward unity. Send the text. Buy the coffee. Ask for forgiveness even if you weren't entirely wrong. Go first. That's what Jesus did.
The world is watching. If we genuinely love one another across our differences, if we forgive when it's costly, if we maintain unity amid diversity, they'll notice. They'll see a power they can't explain: the power of the Prince of Peace holding us together when everything screams at us to divide.
But what if there was a community that operated by an entirely different set of rules? What if there was a people so unified, so committed to peace with one another, that it stopped the world in its tracks?
That's exactly what the Apostle Paul envisions in Ephesians 4:1-6, a passage that challenges us to become what we're called to be: a Community of Peace in service to the Prince of Peace.
A Calling Worth Fighting For
Paul begins with a simple but weighty command: "Walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received." This isn't a casual suggestion. It's a clarion call to live consistently with our identity in Christ.
But what is this calling? It's not merely personal salvation or a ticket to heaven. According to Paul's earlier chapters, the calling is communal, God is building a new humanity, constructing a temple, forming a body. The calling is to be *one*.
This reveals the absurdity of division within the church. Imagine conjoined twins sharing a single body but fighting with each other. It's ridiculous because when one attacks the other, both feel the pain. The same is true for the Body of Christ. When we gossip about a fellow believer, we're cutting our own arm. When we harbor bitterness against a brother or sister, we're poisoning our own bloodstream.
Jesus said a house divided against itself cannot stand. So why do we think we can tear down other Christians and not bleed ourselves?
The world desperately needs to see a people who live differently than the tribalism dominating our newsfeeds and social media. When the church mirrors the same fractures, the same us-versus-them mentality, the same inability to love across differences, we lose our apologetic credibility. Our greatest witness in a post-Christian culture isn't primarily arguments; it's a community that displays the supernatural power of the gospel to unite people across every human division.
The Character That Creates Peace
Paul doesn't leave us with abstract ideals. He gets immediately practical, outlining four characteristics that create peace: humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love.
Humility means stepping off the throne of our tiny kingdoms. We all have this claustrophobic little world where we are king. Where people should drive the way we want, agree with our opinions, appreciate us exactly as we desire. When someone violates the laws of our kingdom, war breaks out. Humility recognizes we're not the center of the universe. It looks at the person we disagree with and genuinely says, "I could be wrong. My perspective is limited."
Gentleness is power under control, like a warhorse trained to respond to the slightest touch. It's the ability to be strong without being harsh, to handle difficult people without breaking them. Are you trying to win arguments or restore relationships? Do your words cut people down or heal them?
Patience means having a long fuse. It means not exploding the moment something goes sideways, not immediately reacting when someone disappoints us. It means absorbing the blow instead of striking back.
Bearing with one another in love is where community gets real. People are heavy—not physically, but relationally and emotionally. If you're going to be in authentic relationship, you'll carry weight. You'll bear the weight of bad days, annoying habits, sinful patterns, fears, and insecurities.
Here's the truth: you are heavy too. Some people are frustrated with their community because it's not perfect, hoping for a group that's easy and never annoying. That group doesn't exist. And if it did, you'd ruin it with your own brokenness.
We're all sinners in the process of sanctification. We all have sharp elbows. Peace isn't passive, it's the active pursuit of reconciliation and unity despite our differences. It's like a couple planning a cross-country trip who agree on the destination and route but fight so intensely about who should drive that they never leave the driveway. That's the church too often—agreeing on Jesus and the gospel but fighting over who's driving, over preferences and secondary issues.
The motivation? Christ bore the infinite weight of your sin on the cross. If He could carry that for you, surely by His Spirit you can carry a little relational annoyance for your brother or sister.
Maintaining the Oneness You Already Have
Here's the game-changer: Paul says to "maintain the unity of the Spirit," not create it. Unity isn't something we manufacture through effort. It's a gift we receive and then maintain.
When you placed faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit baptized you into His Body. You became one with every other believer on the planet, regardless of denomination, ethnicity, politics, or socioeconomic status. That's finished. The question isn't "Are we one?" We are. The question is "Are we acting like it?"
Paul gives seven theological foundations for this unity: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. The same Spirit dwells in that person you struggle with. You're going to the same eternal destination. You serve the same Master. You trust the same gospel. You're in the same family.
The things that unite us in Christ are infinitely greater than the things that divide us.
Living It Out
Our culture bonds over secondary things—hobbies, politics, income. When those change, friendships evaporate. But in the church, we bond over the "ones" Paul lists. We can look at believers across the world who have nothing in common with us naturally and say, "That is my brother. That is my sister."
The challenge is this: Is there someone in your church you're not at peace with? Someone you're avoiding? Someone whose name makes your jaw clench? The Prince of Peace calls you to deal with that.
Check your "Kingdom of Self." When you get frustrated this week, ask: "Why am I angry? Is it because righteousness has been violated, or because I didn't get my way?"
Then be eager. Make a move toward unity. Send the text. Buy the coffee. Ask for forgiveness even if you weren't entirely wrong. Go first. That's what Jesus did.
The world is watching. If we genuinely love one another across our differences, if we forgive when it's costly, if we maintain unity amid diversity, they'll notice. They'll see a power they can't explain: the power of the Prince of Peace holding us together when everything screams at us to divide.
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