Tag Archives: peace

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on July 27, 2015
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Mutual UpBuilding — Rev. David J. Schreffler

July 27, 2015

“Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve.” Romans 14:19, 22

“Suppose a man have peace of conscience, what must he do to keep and maintain it. I answer:

First, we must labor to prevent troubles of conscience by taking heed that we do nothing contrary to conscience.
Secondly, if we will maintain our peace, we must labor to have our hearts grounded in the assurance of the love of G*d…
 Thirdly, we must use the assurance of faith in applying the blood of Christ. If we find that we have sinned, we must run presently to the blood of Christ to wash away our sin.” William Fenner (1600 – 1640) A Quest for Godliness – “For All The Saints”, volume IV (p. 344)

Peace and mutual upbuilding. These are good attributes to have in our faith lives, and in our personal lives. How do we find peace? Well, peace is the opposite of conflict. How do we avoid conflict? We can’t always avoid conflict, but we can seek to live lives of peace, formed in the teachings of Jesus. Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors, to forgive unlimited amounts of times, to serve others, and to make sure we put others first, among other lessons he taught. That will go a long way in finding peace and avoiding conflict. Mutual upbuilding, at least in my mind, is closely related to serving others. When we serve the other, we are working to make the lives of others better. In all the ways that we seek peace and mutual upbuilding, we look to the Holy Spirit to be our source of strength and our guide.

How can you be a source of peace and/or a source of upbuilding in someone’s life today?

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on May 15, 2015
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Unity – Rev. David J. Schreffler

May 15, 2015 – “U” is for Unity

“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:20 – 24

One of the most difficult tasks of any Christian Community is to maintain the “unity” of the faithful. This is the prayer of Jesus in John 17 – it should be called “The Lord’s Prayer” and what we call “The Lord’s Prayer” should be called “The Disciple’s Prayer”, because it is the disciples who ask Jesus “How should we pray?” From the beginning of Christianity we have wondered how to pray. Jesus models the attempt of an active prayer life by getting away (which always proves so difficult for him) so he can be in prayer. Jesus prays for the unity of the believers for all time and place in this 17th chapter of John. He realizes that “being in the world but not of the world” is going to be a struggle. He knows that ego and power and coveting will always get in the way of relationships.

Since the time of the Reformation, we have seen the Christian church fragment in many different denominations. I believe these divisions, the fact that we identify more with what denomination we belong to rather than to the fact that we are all Christians has been to the detriment of the church. It has certainly not helped us find unity. We have to work very hard at finding ways to be united as Christians, while still being able to celebrate our individual traditions, theologies, and worship practices. But the divisions are not just between churches — they also thrive within each church. When the church, or a club, or any human endeavor is filled with people, there is the chance for divisiveness. We all do not think alike, plan alike, and see ministry the same (neither did the apostles of the early church — read the first 10 chapters of Acts if you don’t believe me). And it is when we become more invested in “keeping things the same”, or “rejecting other ideas because they do not fit our view of ministry”, then we are in danger of driving a wedge between rather than finding unity with our brothers and sisters in the congregation.

Christ prayed for us to be united – we need to continue that prayer so we can work united as Christians, inside the church and in the church universal.

Pastor Dave