The People of Peace

Who are the people of peace in your life and local community?

This Sunday we are talking about making disciples by finding people of peace. This isn’t a new idea. In fact, it’s the way Jesus made disciples.

We read in Luke chapter 10:1-11; “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’  If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’

From this text and the other stories of Jesus making disciples through finding people of peace; such as the Samaritan woman at the well who, after speaking with Jesus, ran into town telling everyone “Come meet the man who told me everything I ever did… could this be the messiah?” (John 4). And the demoniac (Mark 5), Zacchaeus (Luke 19), and also through his disciples’ interactions with Cornelius (Acts 10), Lydia at the river’s bank and the Philippian jailer (Acts 16), Jason in Thessalonica (Acts 17) and Crispus the synagogue leader (Acts 18), we can gain more understanding of how to make disciples “Jesus' way”, through finding people of peace.
 
We call them people of peace because they

1. Receive the messenger
2. Receive the message
3. Receive the mission
   
   

In the biblical examples above, we see that God had prepared these people to encounter the gospel witness and when they did, they became the conduits of the good news in their families and communities.  It was the people of peace, not the apostles, who shared the good news in their own networks and communities. The people of peace become the main vehicle for the spread of the gospel in their regions. 
 
Jesus wants us still to make disciples in the same way today; through people of peace. So, lets ask ourselves… who are the people of peace around us currently, in our lives and communities?
 
Reflect:

• who is OPEN to hearing Your Story, God’s Story and the Good News of Jesus?
• who is HOSPITABLE and WELCOMES you into their home or their workplace or to join events with family and friends?
• who KNOWS OTHERS (or is KNOWN BY OTHERS) and who is excited to draw together a small group or even a crowd?
• who is FAITHFUL and SHARES what they learn with others - even after you’re gone?
  
  

Once identified, I encourage you to spend most of your disciple-making time with those particular people and see how God can use you to expand His Kingdom through those relationships.

May God bless you and be with you as you go into the world and make disciples as Jesus commanded, demonstrated and taught us.

I look forward to hearing the stories that you come back and share.

Rev. Tanya