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Mission as Sharing Christs Peace

Let us pray.....
Most of us are familiar with the Old Testament word for peace. It is shalom. For
Hebrew speakers, shalom has a much richer and fuller significance than the
English word peace. Whereas we sometimes limit the idea of peace to the
absence of conflict, shalom includes far more. It comprises notions of wholeness,
completeness, soundness, and prosperity. Peace is also inseparable from
righteousness and justice. These latter concepts are embodied in one He brew word
that connotes right-relationship between two or more parties. This word is usually
translated as righteousness, referring not only to doing morally correct deeds,
but also to living rightly in relationship with others. Righteousness is also clo sely
connected to justice, because the righteous person acts with justice.
In biblical perspective, therefore, the absence of conflict is only the bare
beginning of peace. True peace includes personal wholeness, corporate
righteousness, political justice, and prosperity for all creation. Thats exactly the
way God intended things to be when he created his garden, his paradise. Perhaps
no term better describes Gods perfect paradise than peaceful, a world full of
wholeness, righteousness, justice, and prosperity.
The Old Testament conception of peace is closely related to the New Testament
notion of fellowship. In the New Testament, Greek word for fellowship, koinonia,
might better be translated as intimate fellowship. When we have peace with
God, we live in intimate fellowship with him. Similarly, peaceful (peace -full)
human relationships are also characterized by koinonia.
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What could be more intimate than the fellowship shared by the man and the
woman? Peace, intimate fellowship, righteousness, justice, these interrelated
qualities characterize Gods perfect paradise. They reveal Gods intentions for
how we are to live. In a nutshell, were to live in peace, which means our mission
is to share the peace by having intimate communion and fellowship wit h other. So
our theme is very relevant today to meditate Mission as Sharing Christs Peace
let us go through the readings of the old and new testament s.
1. God helps us to change the tool of destruction as the tool of peace (Mic.
4:1-7)
The prophet Micah lived in the 8th century BC, and preached to the people of Israel.
Jewish people lived in a time of war, and Assyrian attack was imminent. The center of
civic and religious life, Jerusalem, was about to fall. In the midst of this terror, Micah
casts a vision that is almost fanciful. He describes two things the first is a vision of the
peoples of all nations coming to the mountain of the Lord. All people will stream to
Jerusalem, and God will be the final arbiter of all contention. No Assyrian or other threat
will win. No human force or king or warfare will overcome what God has in mind for all
nations. The second thing Micah describes is how implements of war swords and spears
will be fashioned into plows and pruning hooks. The very thing that was a tool of
destruction will become a tool of growth and peace. All of this seems impossible and
Unrealistic. this will never happen its not practical and yet, this is the vision and the
place to which God calls us. By having this hopeful future vision, our present changes.
Have you noticed that when you have a vision of the future that is negative, it affects how
you feel and act in the present? The vision of Gods future is what gives us ultimate hope,
and empowers us to take the things that we have been 4 using to hurt each other and
transform them into implements of growth and peace.
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If you have used or are using something in your life as a tool of destruction, consider how
it might be transformed into a tool of creating life and peace. God the giver of life
expects peace from people and nations and transform the tool of destruction as the
growing edge for the peace. This is the time to take decision to change our
destructive tools and elements that may be our character, our attitude, our
impatience, broken relations etc.
2. Jesus Greet us with Peace in our trouble (Lk. 24:36-49)
The resurrected Lord declared peace to the fearful people. Jesus greeting was the
common Jewish greeting Shalom!"Peace be with you." The disciples had forsaken Jesus.
Peter had denied Him. They had slept while Jesus prayed. They had fled when Jesus was
arrested. What would He say to them now when He sees them again? Does He accuse
them? Does He condemn them? No, He says, Peace. He has forgiven them. He knows
our weaknesses. He comes with words of love to the disciples.
How often aren't our hearts like those of the disciples: anxious about something,
wondering what will happen in the future. We know God's promises and yet, we doubt.
We wonder if God can really forgive our sin. We wonder how God can work in this or
that situation for our best. Locked tight, deep in our hearts where no one can see, our
thoughts are in turmoil. We are not at peace. We don't know what to do, and simply pray:
Lord, help me. And then Jesus appears. As we meditate on His word and his promises,
He simply appears in our heart with his message: "Peace be with you, brother. Peace be
with you, sister.
In the Scriptures, he stands holding out his hands and his feet - showing the marks of his
crucifixion - that we might be reassured that our sins are forgiven; that we are at peace
with God. And not only does he stand before us, but he also stands with us as we share
the message of salvation with our family, friends and neighbors, who are caught in
anxiety and sin.
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3. Sharing the peace is our mission (Phil. 4:4-9)

Here we find the beautiful alternative God offers to a life of stress and worry and
depression. He offers us peace. And not just an ordinary, passing, fleeting peacebut a
peace which surpasses all understanding. This is a peace that can endure even in the
midst of the hardest times in our lives and the most difficult things we will ever face. Its
a peace that wont make sense to those who dont know Christ and who are living their
lives by their own human wisdom and with eyes fixed on temporal things. Those who
have peace with God through Jesus Christ should be at peace with others. We
believe that Christ has taken upon himself the punishment on our account to give
us peace .Therefore; we have the obligation of sharing the message of peace of
Christ with others. Jesus said: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be
called children of God (Matt 5:9).
In our Eucharistic liturgy, the offering of peace to each other does not come at the
beginning of the worship service, but before the offering and the Eucharistic
prayer. It is an act of reconciliation that serves as a transition point between the Word
and Meal portions of the liturgy. It comes after the reading of the scriptures and the
preaching of the sermon. In other words, we offer our peace to each other in
response to Gods word. Our peace is not the natural state of affairs; it exists only
because it has been created by the word of God, and by what God has done for us
in Jesus Christ. When we offer peace to each other, it is an act of faith, believing
that God has called and empowered us to do this.
We need to extend divine peace into the world by living peaceably each day: Do
your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible (Ro m 12:18).
Notice that we are to live peaceably with everyone, those inside the church and
outside of the church, those in our families and those at our workplace. Christians
are a people who seek reconciliation with one another. Making peace is a daily action in
our lives. We do not need to wait to come to church on Sunday morning in order to make
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peace with our neighbors and our family members. Sharing Gods peace is a daily
opportunity.
The peace that Jesus gave his disciples was not just meant to be kept locked up in their
hearts for themselves. Jesus intended it to be shared with the world so that all who would
believe in Him would have eternal life. And this duty was not only given to the disciples,
but to each of us as well. When the Lord called you to faith, he called you to be his
representatives before the world. He came to bring us peace - the forgiveness of sins - but
he never intended for us to keep this peace to ourselves. He wants you to share it with
others that they too might repent of their sin and believe in Jesus for forgiveness.
Conclusion
As I conclude, lets us ask a meaningful question to yourself, Whats Sharing Christs
Peace all about? Its a very simple way to remember the big story of our salvation and
our big mission as the church in the world. It goes like this: God sent Jesus to restore
peace to our broken lives and our broken world. We, as followers of Jesus, are now called
to share Christs peace with everyone, everywhere, every day until Christ returns or calls
us home.
Let us ask Gods help to change the tool of destruction as the tool of peace
Let us understand that there is a Jesus who greets us with Peace in our trouble
Let us take the notion of sharing the peace as our mission
God help all of us to be his representative in this earth by sharing the peace of
Christ with everyone. Amen