Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He is described that way prophetically in Isiah 9:6. He gives us “peace that surpasses under“ (Philippians 4:7). However, we must understand that being His disciple will not always be a peaceful life.
Mathew 10:34-39 says, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household; He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me, and he who does not cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
The Prince of Peace came to bring conflict on the earth.
We are soldiers in the Lord’s army. 2+Timothy 2:3 says, “You, therefore, must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
“It is a soldier’s job to fight. We must be willing to wage the good warfare” -1 Timothy 1:18.
Faithful disciples are engaged in an ongoing warfare with the forces of darkness.
The American people have been told that we are now in a war against terrorism that we should not expect to be over any time in the foreseeable future. We all have enemies in the world and we will have to be prepared to deal with them at home and abroad.
It’s the same way in the believer’s war against Satan and the forces of evil in the world.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.
War between morality and immorality
War against truth and error
War between God’s will and Satan’s devices
Believers should expect opposition. Something is wrong with us if we do not encounter resistance from the other side.
“Woe to you when all me speak well of you. For solid their fathers to the false prophets“ -Luke 6:26
Jesus’s love for the church gives us a patten for the way a husband should love his wife.
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Messiah also loved the assembly, and gave Himself up for it” -Ephesians 5:25.
If we follow Jesus’s teachings, we have a perfect recipe for happiness in the home.
Families often interfere with a person’s choice to follow Jesus.
Parents object to children becoming believers in Christ. This is especially difficult when the child is young and still lives at home and is dependent on parents for care and support.
Partners try to interfere with spouses faith.
Hostility and mistreatment sometimes comes. Members of our own families may become our enemies because of Jesus. It is hard when you’re young and are forced to choose between the Lord and loved ones in their own families.
When conflicts come God must come first.
To be worthy of God, we have to be willing to bear our crosses for him. Cross bearing means enduring heavy burdens because of God.
“Come to Me, all who labor, and are heavily burdened , and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls”- Matthew 11:28-30.
This is true with regard to the burden of sin. However, Jesus did not say that being a Christian wad without cost…or even that the price was small. Every Christian must pay a price to follow Jesus, but the price that it paid is nothing in comparison with the cost that Jesus paid in purchasing the church with His blood (Acts 20:28).
“He who finds his life will lose it and he who loses it for My sake will save it“ – Matthew 10:39.
The first life is what is found by the person looking for success and accomplishment in the here and now.
The rich farmer in Luke 12: 19 found this kind of life.
“And I will say Tony soul, Soul you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”
That kind of life will eventually be lost.
Wealthy people don’t all lose their wealth and die penniless.
The attitude which causes a person to put earthly things above heavenly things cause them to lose out on the most important kind of life -spiritual life. Such a person may die surrounded by a large loving family, a bunch of helpful friends, and a great collection of material things -but they are lost without God.
Many people in the early centuries of the church’s existence literally gave their lives for the cause of God. From Stephen onward through the years, people held firmly to the cross of Christ even when it cost them physical life. God’s people in the Asian city of Smyrna were encouraged to be faithful unto death and promised “I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10). They traded physical -this world life for spiritual, eternal life.
Jesus does not require that we die physically because of persecution. Anyone who does in the Lord is blessed (Revelation 14;23), no matter whether the death is violent or from natural causes. But Jesus does require that we crucify self and let Jesus live in us.
In Galatians 2:20 it says, “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I but Christ that lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself to for me.”
Self-satisfied church members who are at ease in Zion, are not worthy to be Jesus’s disciples. Christ must be living in us and be the controlling force in our lives.
We can’t be intellectually lazy so that we do not want to study and learn. Contrary to some people’s thinking, we don’t have everything figured out yet. And we still need to be learning.
We can’t be emotionally lazy because being in Christ requires an investment of the heart as well as the mind. Even when we gather for worship it isn’t enough to do the job as a matter of routine. God must be worshipped in spirit and truth. (John 4:24).
We can’t be physically lazy because being a true believer requires action. We must be doers of the word (James 1:22). We must always be ready to do Jesus’s work on earth.
From Pity to Praise 