Allowing the Peace of Christ to Arbitrate in our Hearts for the Church to be in Oneness

When we allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts, this peace will settle all the disputes among us, we will have peace with God and with man, the church life is maintained in oneness, and we experience the renewing of the new man.

Christ is our peace offering, as revealed in the book of Colossians (see Col. 1:8, 20-22; 2:19; 3:15). God reconciled all things to Himself – He made peace unto Himself for all things, and this was accomplished through the blood of the cross of Christ (Col. 1:20).

Due to the fall of man, the entire creation is in rebellion against God and at enmity with God; but on the cross, God reconciled all things to Himself. Now whenever someone believes into the Lord, the efficacy of the death of Christ is applied to him, and he is reconciled to God.

As believers in Christ, we have been called to the peace of Christ in one Body, the Body of Christ (Col. 3:15). We need to have not only peace personally with God (by telling Him everything, opening to Him about all things, and living a life in peace with God and forbearance toward others) but also corporately with the saints.

This means that, for us to have real peace, we need to be dependent on the Lord and on the Body of Christ. No one who is independent of the other members of the Body that the Lord put him with has real peace; our dependence on the Body of Christ brings in real peace (Gal. 6:16).

May the Lord save us from man-made peace or from obsession; may we be truly open to the Lord and allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts, so that Christ as peace would arbitrate, adjust, and decide all things in our heart.

When we allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts, this peace will decide and adjust all things in our hearts in our relationship with the fellow members of the Body of Christ (Col. 3:15). When we let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts, we will be full of peace, and our heart will be thankful to the Lord.

In the Body life our heart should always be in a peaceful condition toward the members of the Body and thankful toward the Lord.

This is not something easy to have, but if we let the Lord as peace arbitrate in our heart, settle any disputes within our being, and preside over the conferences taking place within our being, then the peace of Christ will rule in us, and we will have peace with God and peace with man.

Allowing the Peace of Christ to Arbitrate in our Hearts for the Church to be in Oneness

Christ is our peace, He gives us peace, and He Himself made peace for us; if we allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts, this peace will settle all the disputes within us.

When the disputes in our being are settled, we will have peace with God vertically and peace with the saints horizontally (Col. 1:20; 3:15).

There are many parties within us that argue with one another; there has to be an arbitrator, an umpire, that decides and settles the disputes in our being. When we sense that the different parties within our being are arguing and quarrelling, we need to give place to the presiding peace of Christ.

We need to allow the peace of Christ, which is the oneness of the new man, to rule and arbitrate within us. May the Lord as peace have the final word in our being. This means that we need to enthrone the Lord as peace in our being; the peace of Christ has to be the ruler and decider in us.

When we allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our heart, all the problems within us will e solved, and the friction between the saints disappears. The result is that the church life is preserved in oneness, and the new man is maintained in a practical way.

How can we be preserved in the church life, and how can the church life as the life of the new man be preserved? It is not by mere teachings but by setting our mind on the things which are above and allowing the heavenly transmission to impart the divine element into us.

Then we will have the renewing of the new man, and we will experience the peace of Christ ruling within us.

The peace of Christ is Christ Himself as peace arbitrating within our heart, deciding in our being, and exercising rule over us by speaking the last word, and making the final decision.

For us to have a proper Christian walk daily and to preserve the church life, we need the arbitrating peace of Christ to operate in our heart. There are many frictions in the church life, and simply by being with others we may get offended, we may not like other people, or we may simply not talk to someone because of some things they said to us.

It is the same in the family life: many things can come up between a husband and a wife, and offenses may accumulate, friction may increase, and arguments may take place more often, simply because the peace of Christ does not arbitrate in their heart.

The only way for frictions to be solved and for the church life to be preserved is for us all to allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts; when we all do this, the church will be preserved in oneness, and the one new man will come into being.

Only the heavenly Christ who is right now interceding for us, ministering to us, and administrating in the heavens, can solve our problems and resolve the friction. As we allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts, the renewing of the new man takes place continually.

As we stay under the ruling of the enthroned peace of Christ, we will not offend others or damage them; rather, by the Lord’s grace and with His peace, we will minister life to others.

The way we can maintain the oneness in a local church is not by our human endeavoring but by experiencing the arbitrating peace of Christ.

What we all should care for is nothing else but allowing the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts, so that we may be supplied with grace and peace, and we may be kept in oneness in our family life and church life.

Lord Jesus, we want to allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts so that it may settle all the disputes among us and keep us in peace and oneness. May we be preserved in oneness and sweetness in the church life as we experience the arbitration of the peace of Christ in our heart. Amen, Lord, may all the saints cooperate with You by allowing Your peace to arbitrate in their hearts so that You may remove all the friction between the members of the Body! May we all be kept in the renewing of the one new man by allowing the peace of Christ rule over us, speak the last word, and make the final decision in our being!

We need the Lord of Peace to give us Peace Continually that we may be at Peace in Everything

In the church life we need to be at peace in everything, in every way, and with everyone; for this we need the Lord of peace to give us peace continually in every way (see Heb. 12:14; 1 Thes. 5:13; 2 Thes. 3:16; Rom. 12:18; 14:19; Mark 9:50; 2 Tim. 2:22; James 3:18; Matt. 5:9).

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. We need to be peace makers, those who know the cross and who allow the cross to touch in us the very thing that is emerging as a problem among the saints, so that we can be a factor of reconciliation.

We need to have peace from the Lord in every way; we need to receive peace from the Lord continually in every way in the church life. As far as it depends on us, we need to live in peace with all men, with all people – both with the saints and with the unbelievers (see 2 Thes. 3:16).

Even when people are just unreasonable, when we apologize to them and they don’t want to forgive us and let it go, we need to do our best that, as far as it depends on us, we live in peace with all men.

We need to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our heart and among us and, as far as it depends on us, we should live in peace with all men.

Especially as we come to the Lord’s table meeting, we need to be honest with the Lord and take the bread and the wine in peace with all men, as far as it depends on us. We need to pursue the things of peace and the things for the building up one another (Rom. 14:19).

We should not be passive but actively pursue the things of peace, because in our spirit there’s a wonderful person, whose name is peace. He made peace for us through the blood of the cross, He abolished the ordinances, He slain the enmity, He came to proclaim peace as the gospel, and He as peace arbitrates in our heart.

Now we can identify ourselves with Christ as peace and seek the things of peace, doing our best to live in peace with all men. We can simply tell the Lord,

Lord Jesus, as far as it depends on me, I want to be at peace with all men, both with the saints and with unbelievers. I want to forgive those whom I have to forgive, and I want to allow You to heal every wound that we sustained. Lord, I want to repent to those I have to repent, and may You enlighten me if I’m wrong toward anyone. Oh Lord, as far as it depends on us, we want to be at peace with all men! We take You as our peace offering, Lord, so that we may live in peace with all the members of the Body and also with all men!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msg. 63 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (1), week 11, Experiencing Christ as the Peace Offering for the Body of Christ.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # And let the peace of Christ / Arbitrate in your hearts, / To which also / You were called / In one Body; / And be thankful. (Scripture song)
  # Thou hast bought me with Thy blood, / Opened wide the gate to God; / Peace I ask, but peace must be, / Lord, in being one with Thee. / May Thy will, not mine be done; / May Thy will and mine be one; / Chase these doubtings from my heart, / Now Thy perfect peace impart. (Hymns #425)
  # Take, drink this cup, His blood, / Redemption of our God. / The peace which Christ has made, / Is in this cup displayed. / We fellowship now with the Son: / On Calvary the work was done: / The way is clear, now all can come! (Hymns #1109)