Statement #4: A People Seeking After Peace
- thereformingtravel3
- Jun 2
- 4 min read
“I will pursue peace with all people, especially with other believers, always being slow to take offense and eager to find reconciliation, while shunning gossip and divisiveness.” (Proverbs 6:16-19; Ephesians 4:29-31; 2 Timothy 2:24)
This should be self-explanatory for us all as Christians. In the gospel we learn not one of us is received and saved due to our wealth, our goodness, our educational level, our gender, or race. Simply put, we all are to find our boast solely in Christ and His work alone (Gal. 6:14). This led Charles Spurgeon to acknowledge, “Be not proud of race, face, place, or grace.”
Acts 10:34-25 Peter writes, “So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
Galatians 3:28 firmly states, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 2:19-20 declares, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.”
While there are created differences associated in the roles between men and women in the church, there are NO distinctions in the grace and call of the gospel for any separation of worth or value between men or women, young or old, black of white, rich or poor in scripture regarding the New Testament church.
Further, when we see the Christian’s mission mandate given in Matthew 28:19-20 where it is stated, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The focus is broad upon all nations, all language, all race/color, all socio-economic, and education level among those nations.
Further, gossip and slander in the church is like gangrene and cancer in the body (2 Timothy 2:16-17). If they are not soon delt with in an intentional and timely manner, both have the potential to infect the entire body of the church in negative and adverse ways. On the severity of gossip Ray Ortlund has written:
“Gossip in our dark moral fervor eagerly seeking gratification. It makes us feel powerful to cut someone else down to size, especially someone we are jealous of or in whim we have grown bitter against. It makes us feel righteous, even responsible, to pronounce someone else guilty. Gossip can feel good in multiple ways. But it is of the flesh, not of the Spirit. Plainly stated, it is sin! – Gossip leaves wide trails of devastation wherever and however it goes. It erodes trust and destroys morale. In the church it creates an environment of suspicion where everyone must wonder what is being said behind their backs and whether appearances of friendship are even sincere. It ruins hard-won reputations with cowardly but effective weapons of misrepresentation. It manipulates people into taking sides when no such action is necessary or beneficial. It makes the body of Christ look like the body of the Antichrist, being destroyers rather than healers. It exhausts the energies we would otherwise devote to positive witness. It robs our Lord of the Church He deserves. It exposes the hostility in our hearts and discredits the gospel in the eyes of the world. Then we wonder why we don’t see more conversions to Christ, and why ‘the ground is so hard.’”
Wow, no wonder scripture is so clear on the danger of gossip and slander as well as those who persist in such practice within the church.
Proverbs 6:16-19 - "There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers
Proverbs 16:28 - “A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.”
Proverbs 26:20 - "For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.”
While so much more could be written here, the main thrust of this installment of our church covenant is to communicate the prayer of our pastors in seeing our church being known as a place where the gospel has so transformed us that our people begin to love each other with gospel graces, humility, long-suffering, and in humble confrontation/intentionality. We must NOT be a people that tear each other apart for self-gratitude or pride but, are known for lifting each other up as a powerful witness to a watching world for God’s glory and the churches overall joy!
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