Ultimate Christianity

is one of those things called
basically leading to a pastoral nightmare. A decision made early
in the week to preach this sentence, if you will, leads to the waking
up in the middle of Saturday night in sweats and the nightmare
goes something like this. The church has voted you out.
They all have pitchforks and torches and clubs and they’re
literally chasing you on the road out of town. Lining the
town is every pastor you’ve ever known. Every pastor you’ve ever
met. Radio preachers and faithful
expositors. And they all have one question.
Why are these people chasing this man? And the answer comes,
and with shock they say, he preached the greeting? Essentially, people have called
these little words, may grace and peace be yours in fullest
measure. People have called this an address
label, a greeting, a salutation. And I want to tell you, just
to begin with, there’s so much more than just that. And to look
at that, to look at any portion of God’s Word in that fashion
is to miss a blessing. Put your pitchforks away for
just a few minutes and hear me out. I’ve called the message
Ultimate Christianity. Another risk, wasn’t it? Because
the word ultimate is so abused and overused in our day that
it almost means nothing. We’ve heard of the Super Bowl
as the ultimate game, right? Years ago, one player was asked
about that and he said, if they call it the ultimate game, why
do we play it every year? It’s true. And then you have
the new improved tie, the ultimate clean. And six months later,
they roll out with a new product and they are at a loss for words
of what to call it because they’ve already used the word ultimate.
And so it’s with that pitfall, that potential difficulty that
I use the word ultimate Christianity. But may I suggest that most people
don’t live there? Most people don’t live a life
of ultimate Christianity. Most people live their Christianity
out in various shades of grey. Mediocrity. And I believe such was the case
in Peter’s day. But Peter the Apostle, having
walked with Christ, so close to Christ, even then, Peter would
have none of it. We’ve already seen how Peter’s
life was totally transformed. Peter was a changed man. The
last thing Peter would have been content with is a congregation
that sat there and lived in mediocrity in their spiritual walk with
Christ. It wouldn’t have done. I don’t believe that this is
a mere address label. I don’t believe that these are
empty words. I don’t believe that they’re a gloss, something
to be overlooked and skimmed through. I believe that these
words are the very Word of God and they came from the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit Himself coursing through the Apostle Peter. This
is exactly what Peter wanted to say to his beloved church. Come back with me to the passage,
if you would. Beginning in verse 1. Peter. an Apostle of Jesus Christ to
those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you
may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood. May
grace and peace be yours in fullest measure. We’ve looked at the
passage. You know we have. We spent three
or four weeks on Peter alone just looking at God changing
His life in the pages of the Gospels, playing itself out here
in these epistles. We looked at Peter. We looked
at his view of the church. The church has seen from the
world that we are aliens. We don’t fit in. We don’t belong
and we shouldn’t fit in. It’s as it should be. We are
aliens. The church Seen, secondly, is scattered
as so many gospel seeds wherever they’re planted to grow and to
flourish and to spread the message of Christ. And finally, the church
is seen from God’s perspective as chosen, select by His precious
hand. And Peter, for all intents and
purposes, is done But gives us this capstone at the end. These
words of benediction. Words that are even difficult
to define as far as how they’re functioning within the sentence.
And some people, as I said, have used this merely as an address
label, just kind of a, oh, by the way, a postscript, if you
will. And so I want to spend some time
on these little words. And again, as a preparation for
the Lord’s table, a preparation of our own hearts for the Lord’s
table. What the apostle gives us is
an appeal. He lets us in on an appeal for
the believers continued growth in Christ. We’re not there. And if you’re on some kind of
plateau, it’s a dangerous state. There are no plateaus. The plateau
will eventually give way and you will begin a slow and steady
spiritual slide. There are no plateaus in Christianity. I want to look at this appeal.
Three elements of this little appeal that the apostle makes.
First of all, the form of the appeal. The form of the appeal. I’ll tell you exactly what that
form is as we go. It’s a rare verb. And while everybody
is still awake, here comes your Greek lesson for the day. Because
this is the deep stuff. We’ll get through the deep stuff.
And then I will preach to those who are still awake. Verbs. in Greek are essentially found
in four moods or, if you will, modes. Indicative, imperative,
subjunctive, and optative. You’ll be tested on this later,
some of you. The mood of a verb indicates
the relation of the action to reality. Park that somewhere
in your mind. Let me go through the Four moods,
if you will. The indicative mood just speaks
a fact. It just is what it is. I ran. The imperative mood gives a command. You run. The subjunctive mood
speaks in the realm of possibilities. We might run. The optative mood
speaks in the realm of wishing. I wish you to run or I wish that
we may run. That’s essentially your Greek
lesson. The rest of you can now awaken. This word is in the optative
mood, which means that it is expressing a wish or a desire
on the Apostle’s part. The question is, what does it
mean? Some have said that it’s just
this greeting, grace and peace. It’s a biblical form of how are
you? Not to be answered, not to be
really interacted with. If you’re ever on an elevator,
it’s a fun game to play when somebody says, hey, how are you?
Answer them. Give them a full, detailed account
of your week and how you’re feeling and what your plans are and how
you’re doing. They’ll run off the elevator.
The problem with this biblical how are you opinion is that Peter
says that it’s from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so often that’s what’s implied here in Peter’s answer. And that
would be a problem to say that this is just empty words in a
sense. Some have said that it’s a prayer. May you come to know grace and
peace. And the only problem with that
is Peter has already declared that he’s writing to saints who
already know God’s grace and peace in a very real sense. Some have said that it’s just
a statement, grace and peace have come to you. Which is like,
OK, so what’s the point? The final option is that it’s
a prayer of blessing. May God’s grace and peace continue. And you know what I think it
is? I think it’s a combination of the two. The last two, having
received grace and peace. For those of you who have tasted
the grace of salvation and know a taste of what it is to be at
peace with God, May God bless its continuance
to you. That’s what I think Peter is
saying here. And in the mood that it’s in, this optative mood,
it is a blessing. If you will, it’s a benediction,
often which were made with hands outstretched. And if you will
bear with me, the way that I would characterize it, it is a prayer
made with the eyes open. It is a prayer looking at the
object for which you’re praying. the saints, the object of prayer
before you, praying for them instantaneously. You see, we’ve
lost this God-given art of an on-the-spot blessing of others. An impulsive prayer. A sanctified
impulsiveness that immediately… Have you ever been in those conversations
where you say, oh, I’ll pray for you? Well, why wait? Why wait? Why not say, God, help
this brother? God, help my sister through this
week. It is an on the spot, spiritually
impulsive prayer of blessing on another. And we’ve lost that
art. We say that we’ll go home. And at the very best, we go home
and we kneel in prayer and we wrestle over the matter and we
pray for this brother. But I say, why not? Why not right
then and there? Why not pray with the eyes open?
Why not lay your hands on them right then and there and plead
for God’s mercy and grace upon them? And I’ll tell you, the
more you pray, the more you pray, I think the greater the tendency
there is for those kinds of prayers. Those blessings. Because you
come away from God, you begin to build up this relationship
with God that God is ever listening. You don’t need to go home and
wait for your quiet time. God is always available. God
is eager to bless. And all you’ve got to do is ask.
And so often we don’t. So the form of the appeal is
that of a blessing. Peter is asking for a blessing.
on his very scattered people. Secondly, in our preparation
for the Lord’s table this morning, the second element of this appeal
for the believers continued growth is not only in looking at the
form of the appeal, but look at the nature of the appeal. When he says, may grace and peace
be yours in fullest measure. In a very real sense, he says,
fill them up, God, which presumes two things. First of all, it
presumes that they are not currently full. And secondly, that God
does have those resources to pour into us, those infinite
resources that have the capacity of filling us up. fill up that which is lacking.
And this is where I alluded to earlier. Most Christians live
in a realm of various shades of grey mediocrity. Mediocrity,
I would say, in the church of America today is the biggest section. That’s where most people fall,
is in the realm of mediocrity. There are others who are ice
cold and who except for this profession of faith, you would
never even know they are truly saved. In fact, it’s so true
that when you ever come across somebody who is absolutely on
fire, what do we call them? Fanatics. He’s a nut. I don’t
want to be like that. I’d rather live in this fuzzy
gray zone that I live in. The bottom line, people, we in
this life, we are never as godly as we can be. Has any of us achieved
that measure of Christ likeness? We’re never as prayerful as we
should be. We’re never as useful, really fully useful as we can
be. We’re very rarely as merciful
as we ought to be, never is loving, never is others oriented. We
haven’t arrived. That’s the bottom line. As I
said earlier, there is no plateau. And when Peter looks out upon
the landscape of this church that is preparing to suffer the
greatest persecution ever, he wants them ready. The appeals
to God on their behalf that they be filled up People, this concept, it isn’t
just here in the New Testament. In fact, it occurs so many different
ways in the New Testament. Just listen as I recount a few. This concept of being called
to grow, ever grow. Growth. Growth in the New Testament. Paul said that he was not going
to boast in other men’s labors, but with the hope that as your
faith grows, we will be within our spirit sphere enlarged even
more by you. He tells the Corinthians that
they are in a state of growth. People, it wasn’t just the Corinthians.
Every one of us is at a point in time somewhere along this
continuum of growth and nobody is completed. Nobody. Ephesians 2.21 speaks of that
building of God. Remember? The building that Peter
speaks about even in his epistle, the whole building being fitted
and growing together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.
It’s a state of growth. The entire church is. Colossians
2. We are to be holding fast to
the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held
together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is
from God.” The church, collectively, you individually, within the
church, are all in a state of growth. Point made. In Peter’s epistles, he makes
it even more clear. And we’ll come to these passages
and speak at them at length. But 1 Peter 2.2, he says that
like newborn babies long for the pure milk of the Word. Why?
So that you may grow in respect to salvation. You mean I don’t
have my salvation currently? Not at all. You possess it already,
but you need to grow with respect to salvation. You need to grow
in Christlikeness. You need to grow in grace. Second
Peter 3.18, likewise. Grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You mean I haven’t already
arrived? No. Nor will you in this life. But we’re called to grow. Secondly,
we’re called to excel. You mean I don’t have it down
pat yet? Essentially, Paul, in speaking
to the Thessalonian church, he told them that among all the
churches that he knew, they were among the most loving people
that he’d ever seen. And he didn’t let it rest. He
didn’t say, let me give you a trophy, park here for a while. I’m content
with where you are in Christ. Not at all. Finally, then, brethren,
First Thessalonians 4.1, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus
that as you receive the instruction of how you ought to walk and
please God, just as actually you do, that you excel still
more. It isn’t God being harsh, it isn’t
God looking down on your efforts and saying, OK, that’s not good
enough. Try again. It’s God saying, yeah, that’s great. You’ve appropriated
God’s grace. You’ve employed God’s Word in
your life. You’re drawing upon those resources that God gives
you to live the Christ like life. Keep it up. Press on. Do more. Same passage or same chapter
in verse 10. Indeed, you practice this love
towards all the brethren who are in Macedonia already, but
we urge you, brethren, to excel still more. Don’t rest on your
laurels, he tells them. Not only are we to grow, not
only are we to excel, but we are to fulfill our callings. Ministry isn’t over when you
graduate from seminary. Ministry isn’t over when you’ve
done some glorious thing for the kingdom. Ministry is over
the day that you die and you go to heaven. No wonder Paul
gave this exhortation when he said, say to Archippus, take
heed to the ministry which you’ve received in the Lord that you
may fulfill it. There is that element of life
where not only are we supposed to grow and excel, but we are
to continue to pour God’s grace into our lives in such a way
as to flesh out what God’s called us to do. We can’t be content
in where we are. He told Timothy the same thing.
Be sober in all things. Endure hardship. Do the work
of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. Fill it up. The idea of completion is also
seen throughout Scripture. 1 Corinthians 1.10, just by way
of example, I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that you all agree there be no divisions among you, but
you be made complete. You mean I’m incomplete currently?
In a sense, you are. There’s a real sense that if
you’re in Christ, you are complete. You have everything that you
need for life and godliness. And yet now you need to flesh
it out, fill it up, grow. Colossians 1.28, which verse
is on the back of our bulletin, been one of our core verses for
our ministry since the very beginning. We proclaim Him, admonishing
every man, teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may
present every man complete in Christ.” Which means that as
you sit here right now, I’ve got news for you, you’re not
complete yet. But the goal is to ever pour
God’s Word into your hearts and lives and to pour God’s grace
and fellowship. All of those means of grace that
is going to make you more and more and more Christ-like. We all have growing to do. In the greeting in the epistle
of Jude, it says it in very similar terms. May grace and peace and
love be multiplied to you, which means that it can have this exponential
factor. And all I want you to do is think
through your own life. Have you done everything that
you can for the sake of the kingdom? Are you as perfectly holy as
you believe Christ was? Do you have some room to grow? Can you excel in some area of
your Christian walk? Can you grow in grace? Is there
some element of Scripture, some principle of life which can be
applied to your life in such a fashion that a year from now
you will be seen as a different person by God’s grace. Excel still more. There’s a third aspect of this
appeal for the believers continued growth in Christ, not only the
form of the appeal, that it’s a blessing. The nature of an
appeal, of the appeal for more, but the content of the appeal.
And you knew that this is where we were going to spend our time
and this is where we’ll close. When the Apostle says, may grace
and peace be yours in fullest measure. Grace and peace was a very common
written greeting, either one or the other, and sometimes both.
Very common greeting. Shockingly, not only among the
people of God, among the Jews, but this is a very common greeting
among the heathen. Grace and peace. I mean, we hear
it in our own day and age, right? Some have suggested that the
origin of this greeting came from number six. You’ve heard
this. If you’ve ever listened to Chuck Smith on the radio,
the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine
on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon you and give you peace. And so some people thought that
the New Testament writers were employing that kind of mentality.
That was the thought in their mind. I believe that the apostles
did this intentionally. They took the common greeting
of the day and they elevated it. They sanctified it. They
brought it to a new spiritual level. Given the meanings of
these two incredible terms, inseparable in a very real sense. Let’s look at them. The grace
of God. from the Christian standpoint,
you cannot understand it aside from His favoring will and work
on our behalf. It’s God stooping to us. It is
gratuitous. It is utterly and to the very
end, unearned. We don’t deserve it. It is His
kind treatment of us that we do not deserve. Specifically, It refers to the
unbought favor of a holy God towards the sinful and the helpless. That’s us. That’s grace. And whether it’s in pardon or
in this gift of life that He gives us, eternal life, or in
the development of it. If we started with grace, where
do we get the idea that we can do the rest on our own? This
is the battle that Peter wants to wage. It’s a battle with the
mind that says, okay, God, You saved me. I’ll take over from
here. You say, how do we do that? You do it when you don’t pray.
You do it when you don’t fellowship. You do it when you don’t submit
to God’s Word. I’ll take it from here, God.
I’ve had enough pilot training. I’ll solo it the rest of the
way. Grace, this word, initially meant
that which causes joy. That’s what promoted joy. Even still, it has that kind
of shade of meaning when you speak of graceful actions or
graceful motions. We love to watch a graceful skater
because it brings us joy. In time, it came to mean favor
or kindness. And specifically and eventually,
God’s kindness. Because in an ultimate sense,
that’s the only real graciousness there is. Coming from a holy
God to somebody who is totally ill deserving. I mean, we can
compare ourselves to others and find somebody who doesn’t deserve
our kindness in a sense. There’s nothing like God. There’s
no one like God who looks down upon a sinful race and then has
mercy upon them and then does them good, not evil. God gives good gifts to his church. God gives salvation to people. Ultimately, this word came to
be used in greetings. And in that sense, it was understood
as referring to the free gift of God’s grace. And so these words, both grace
and peace, even though they became common forms of greeting, salutation,
if you will, they still retain their full Christian sense, their
full Christian meaning. And I believe what the apostle
wants us to do is to pause and to meditate upon those words
when we read them. May grace be yours in fullest
measure. which means that you have not
drawn on God’s grace to the fullest extent. If you’re able to read
those words on this side of glory, you haven’t drawn fully from
the well. May peace be yours in fullest
measure. We’ll tackle peace in a moment.
But are you as peaceable as you ought to be? Are you as settled
in your heart and soul as you ought to be? We’ll see. Grace, said one, is the sum of
all divine blessing bestowed on Christ on undeserving men.
Grace in its fullest sense begins with the coming of Christ, but
it proceeds from there and it continues. It is the divine goodwill bending
toward the sinner. As I said, The coming of Christ was just
the beginning of God bestowing His grace. But it came to include
all the deeds of God. All the blessings that God pours
out. All the undeserved blessings
that He gives. All of those things. Repentance. God gives repentance. What a
gracious gift that is. Faith. God gives faith. God is
the one that buoys our faith. Love. God is the one that puts
that yearning in our heart to love Him and to love others.
Hope. God is the one that wells the
hope within our hearts. Influence of the Holy Spirit
in the heart. The gift of the Son. The free
gifts that we receive to serve the church. All of those things
are called graces. We’re not full. We haven’t been
filled up yet. Not with those. The apostle essentially prays
here that this free favor with all that it included might be
continued to his readers and because in that all their hope
lay. If they were going to grow in
Christ. If they were going to be, if
you will, successful Christians, their hope, their only hope was
grace, more grace, more applied grace. Robert Haldane, the Puritan,
said it this way, every part of redemption proceeds on the
footing of grace. It originates in the grace of
God and flows in its first manifestations and all its after acts from the
same unceasing fountain. In calling, in our adopting,
in regenerating, in justifying, in sanctifying, in strengthening,
in confirming, in one word, it is all of grace. No wonder Peter
called God the God of all grace. It never ends, people. The same
means by which you were saved, grace is the same means by which
we continue, by which we press on. If you’re having difficulty getting
out of bed in the morning, you need more grace. If you’re having
difficulty overcoming some besetting sin, you need more grace. If
you’re having difficulty with a relationship, whatever kind
of relationship, you need God’s grace. If you feel like you’ve
plateaued, that you’re there, you really need God’s grace. It’s all of God’s grace. Charles
Hodge, great theologian, but a godly man, said it this way.
The sacred writers constantly recognize the fact that the most
free and most spontaneous acts of men, their inward states and
the outward manifestations of those states, when good, are
due to the secret influence of the Spirit of God. In other words,
he says you can’t do anything that pleases God without grace. You can’t do it. And so are you full. Are you
filled with God’s grace? Secondly, what about peace? What about this little word peace?
Are you talking about a misunderstood word? Even biblically speaking,
people don’t understand it. Jewish formula for greeting probably
derived from the high priest blessing that we just mentioned.
That’s where the Jewish in a shorter fashion, they would just say
shalom. Peace. What I mean by that is all that
other stuff that the high priest said. It was a shortened version. Hey,
how you doing? But this shalom, it did have
a meaning. The Jews did mean something by
it. It began as this phrase of social
interaction, but the word eventually began to be used in a religious
sense again. as the cessation of divine anger
and the restoration of harmony between God and man.” Did you
get that? It was, in a sense, to say, hey,
brother, I rejoice in the fact that there is peace now between
God and us. That there is no more war. You
say, where do you get that idea? Well, from the pages of Scripture. Psalm 29, 11. The Lord will give
strength to His people. The Lord will bless His people
with peace. This is God moving upon the people
and bestowing upon them that right relationship. Psalm 858, we’ll hear what the
Lord God will say, for He will speak peace to His people, to
His godly ones, but let them not turn back to folly. Psalm
119, 165, those who love your law have great peace. Nothing
causes them to stumble. Peace, not only among the Jews,
but among the Greeks, meant very much the same thing that it does
with us. The absence of strife, right? Isn’t that what we all
want? We just want peace. Peace in the home and peace at
work and peace on the highway. It’s elusive. But among the Jews,
it was this positive concept that I mentioned. When a Hebrew
said, peace to you, it didn’t mean, I hope you won’t get into
a fight today. When a Jew said, peace to you,
he meant may you prosper as a child of God. May you live in the fullness
of an awareness with a right relationship with a holy God.
Peace to you. Shalom. The Hebrew shalom meant
prosperity in the widest possible sense. The root of that word
was concerned with wholeness. May you be complete. completely
at peace. And so the man who enjoys peace
is the one whose life is well-rounded in a sense. Peace was regarded
as the gift of God and there is a very definite spiritual
aspect to that completeness. Years ago, watching a news show
about some of the strife in some war-torn country, there was a
Bosnian girl. And she summarized it pretty
accurately. She said, because of war, now I know what is peace. And people, we can’t even come
to grips with what peace is until we really recall what the war
was. Because the scriptures say, you
in your natural state, or if you’re still in your natural
state, you are at war with a holy God. Or you were, and except
by God’s grace, you still would be. We are naturally God’s enemies. Galatians 5 says the deeds of
the flesh are evident. Immorality, impurity, sensuality,
idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife. Part of our natural. Romans 1.30 Haters of God. Romans 1.29 puts him in that
camp of wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife. James 4, friendship with the
world is enmity towards God, hostility. But God is a God of peace. Remember,
that’s why Christ came to shine upon those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death to guide our feet. into the way
of peace. You cannot understand peace until
you really grasp the concept of the war that we were in with
God. Jonathan Edwards said it this way. He said the strictness of God’s
law, this from a sermon that he preached, men naturally God’s
enemies. Great title. Draw you in, won’t
it? The strictness of God’s law is
a principal cause of man’s enmity against God. We don’t like God
because God’s law tells us that we are wrong. If God were one
that did not so much hate sin, if He would allow them gratification
of their lusts in various degrees, if His threatenings were not
so awful against all criminal indulgence, If His threatenings
were not so absolute, if His displeasure could be appeased
by a few of our tears. If a little reformation or the
like, they would not be so great enemies against God, nor hate
Him so much as they do. We might even take Him to lunch.
But God shows Himself to be an implacable enemy to their idols.
And He has threatened everlasting wrath, infinite calamity, for
they all do in the service of their lusts. And this makes them
irreconcilable enemies to Him, except by God’s grace. And the
Scripture speaks of peace. It speaks of a mighty work of
God that has already taken place in the believer’s heart and life.
It’s the peace treaty that Christ came to enact by his own blood,
and it’s been applied to the believer’s life. And he now stands
in peace in a right relationship with the Holy God. He’s no longer
at war. Peace is that settled repose,
if you will. There’s an old word which comes
from man’s acceptance and right relationship with God. From the
hymn writer’s standpoint, it is well with my soul. That is
peace. And as I said, the apostles’
concept of peace cannot be understood except on the basis of the knowledge
of the background of our alienation from God and our natural state.
Peace is the reconstituted favor of God. It’s God awakening us
to a new life with Him in light of a peace treaty. Romans 5.1,
Therefore, we have been justified by faith. We have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. What glorious truths those are.
And it’s only as we begin to appreciate the implications of
that alienation in our natural state that we can begin to understand
the richness of the biblical idea of peace. That we are at
peace with a holy God This grace that Peter prays for
ultimately manifests itself in peace. It is the mature fruit
of grace in a believer’s life. And it begins with that inner
tranquility. It begins with that. And it certainly
has relationship to God, but it ultimately spills over into
the church and into your life and the society. You become a
peaceful member of society, promoting peace, promoting restoration
with God. Grace and peace, they just fit
together. They go together. If your peace
begins to fade, you know where to go. You’ve got to go get more
grace. If you don’t apply God’s grace,
the peace will fade. This Greek and Jewish greeting
that was so common, the apostles elevated it. They deepened it
in a Christian sense. And in it, we have what one described
as a comprehensive expression for all that is essential and
indispensable in the Christian life. A greeting that comprises
the whole message of the gospel, a prayer which is revealed that
the grace and the peace of God are the first and the last and
the very best we can petition from God for one another. The blessing of grace and peace
have their origin in God Himself as the source of all perfection
and good gifts. There is no grace except in God
and no real peace except that which flows from God in reconciling
the sinner. And so when God says to you,
may grace and peace be yours in fullest measure, you know
in your heart, You know, in your heart, you have room to draw.
Every breath that we took this week, every meal that we enjoy,
every blessing that we receive from God, every good work we’re
able to do, every quiet time we have, all of our fellowship,
all of our Bible is a gift of God’s grace. Everything is a
blessing of God’s grace. The end of which is to build
upon the peace established by the finished work of our Lord
Jesus Christ, we should be more and more settled, more and more
confident, more and more hopeful, more and more at peace with the
God of glory. Let’s pray. Oh, Lord God, we humble ourselves
before you and we rejoice to come before this table A table
of remembrance of the incredible price that You paid to secure
peace between a warring people and Yourself. Father, we thank
You for our Savior. It’s in Christ’s name that we
pray, Amen.